


Show me love

by bakedgarnet



Series: Show Me Love [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Human AU, Multi, Orphans, Runaways AU, background rose/greg, garnet and amethyst are in a band, it's all really gay, pearl's thirst knows no limits, polygems - Freeform, the fluff will balance out the angst i promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-10-19
Packaged: 2018-07-27 00:29:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 54,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7596232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bakedgarnet/pseuds/bakedgarnet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You'd think after eleven years not much could put a strain on Garnet and Amethyst's friendship. Though, where Pearl was involved, anything could happen.</p><p>or</p><p>Garnet and Amethyst meet intoxicated Pearl after their gig and honestly when Garnet thought about taking someone home that night she didn't think she'd be carrying them to her couch to make sure no one took advantage of them passing out at the bar.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. How to love

Eyes closed against the entrancing music created by her fluidly moving fingers, Garnet felt her full lips curl into a rare smile. The bass guitar cradled in her arms, being strung impeccably by her talented hands, emitted a haunting melody that enraptured the modest crowd gathering around the stage of the bar; she and Amethyst performed there every Thursday. 

She and her closest friend of eleven years did what they could to afford their tiny one bedroom apartment in a neighborhood most wouldn't dare to enter on the southside of Chicago. This was one job that she looked forward to every week. Amethyst’s beautiful voice seamlessly traded for Garnet’s as the bassist transitioned into her original rap verse; the change caught the attention of anyone not paying it beforehand. 

Her excellent lyricism and increasingly noticeable accent was near-impossible to ignore. The lulling sounds created between her bass and Amethyst’s drum set produced the perfect background to Garnet’s relaxed rapping. Effortlessly blending back into harmony with the drummer’s higher pitched voice, her signature alto complimented the melody excellently and the final notes rang out until the bar was nearly engulfed in silence. Suddenly, a burst of applause arose from the crowd gathered around the low-rise stage and a few enthusiastic whoops sounded from patrons further in the back. The duo played three more songs, all original like the first, before they began packing up their equipment and winding down for the night.

Garnet carefully placed her bass in its case and slung it over her left shoulder. Her concealed eyes did a cursory glance around the establishment and landed on a thin, lighter skinned woman making her way toward the stage with a determined glint in her gaunt, blue eyes. Garnet watched her approach with confusion blooming in her stomach. She gracefully stepped down from the stage with an ease created by her tall stature just as the lanky woman made it to the front. Upon closer inspection she was a few inches shorter than herself and under the influence of more than just alcohol. Her stylishly short, strawberry blonde dyed hair was cut close in the back and came to a longer, slick quiff in the front. 

The stranger brought thin, bare hands up to perfect her already immaculate hair and cracked an arrogant grin at Garnet.

“You wanna get out of here?”

The taller woman quirked a curious eyebrow down at the slim woman in bafflement. 

“Pardon?” 

From the reddish tint in her gaze to the slight slur of her words, Garnet could deduce that the woman in front of her was both drunk and high, asking her to hook up. 

It didn't feel right, no matter how distractingly attractive the shorter woman was.

“Take me home with you.” The stranger grinned dazedly, leaning forward and pressing her wiry fingers against Garnet’s muscular arms, seeming to marvel at her strength. With a hasty assessment of the situation, she concluded that this woman was clearly in no condition to be driving herself home. Perhaps she could distract her long enough that she could get Amethyst to steal her wallet and find out where she lived- 

Too elaborate. 

Maybe she could simply ask her-

The taller woman’s rapid-fire inner planning was killed mid-construction, as she was suddenly clutching the stranger’s body up for balance from where it had just very recently gone limp. In an act of pure instinct, Garnet yelled out to the only person in the world she trusted.

“Amethyst!”

The short, brown skinned girl whirled around from where she was conversing with the bar owner and sprinted in their direction from across the stage without a word of explanation to the confused woman she was speaking to. Amethyst skidded to a stop at the edge of the stage and hopped off, landing with a huff directly beside her bandmate. 

“G, what the fuck did you do?”

Garnet’s hidden eyes widened just barely behind her visor-like sunglasses. Why did it have to be  _ her _ fault?

“Nothing. She’s drunk and high, asked if I wanted to hook up and she collapsed. Probably had too much in her system and passed out.” She looked down at the woman, firmly unconscious in her arms, and then to her best friend with the smallest of shrugs.

“So...uh, what do we do with her? We probably shouldn't, like, leave her here. Right?” The shorter girl scratched behind her neck uncomfortably as she looked at the slumped woman. Garnet did a quick scan around the bar and, even with them in plain view, no one seemed to be there with the woman. With a brief sigh, she turned her gaze back onto Amethyst and quirked her lips in the barest hint of a smile. 

“Well, I'm not drivin’ her home.”

The drummer rolled her eyes and held her hand out for the car keys. Garnet supported the dozing woman with one arm as she reached into the arm pocket of her leather bomber jacket and tossed the keys to her bandmate. The shorter girl gathered their equipment and stalked out of the establishment to go start the car. Garnet looked back down at the blonde and huffed, performing the slightly invasive task of patting her down for a wallet or some form of identification. The tall woman noted a small purse barely hanging on to her finger tips and grabbed it before it could fall to the dirt and alcohol stained floor. 

Continuing to hold the paler woman with one arm, the bassist pawed through her purse, sighing in relief when she finally spotted a teal colored wallet. Leafing through it, she found an ID with an address on a street she absolutely did not recognize… in Michigan. Garnet sucked her teeth at the state and placed everything back where she found it; she then scooped the woman up into both of her arms bridal style. After placing the bag on the woman’s stomach, she followed Amethyst's path toward their now warm, beat down car.

Chicago’s winter wind whipped across her face and the night sky, having darkened as early as four in the afternoon, smothered the venue in an obsidian blanket.

The streetlights were out on the next street over, but the ones above made the unconscious woman look a sickly yellow color. Carefully inserting her to lay across the backseat and hoping that she didn't roll off during the drive, she shut the door and climbed into the passenger seat, having to scrunch her body just a bit due to her height and the less than comfortable amount of room in the vehicle. Amethyst looked over with an expectant, yet somehow still utterly bored, expression.

“Where to, boss lady?” The nickname made Garnet’s lips quirk upward as she leaned back into her seat.

“She lives in Michigan.”

Stopping mid reach for the gear shift, the shorter woman screwed her face up and looked toward Garnet with a look of disgust at the distance. 

“I’m not driving to fucking  _ Michigan _ to take this bitch home!” Rolling her eyes at her friend’s choice of words, Garnet remained serene. 

“I didn't ask you to drive her there. I was stating where she lives. We’re taking her to ours. She can go home when she’s conscious and fit to drive.” 

“Oh…” Amethyst deflated and pulled out of her parking space with a finesse that Garnet envied. Zipping down the side streets leading to the expressway left them in a momentary silence. 

“So, were you gonna, y’know hook up with her? Or whatever? If she wasn’t, uh...” Amethyst’s question trailed off hesitantly. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer, but the question had been hounding her since Garnet mentioned the subject. The dark skinned woman sat in a silence extremely familiar to Amethyst, and the shorter girl awaited a response with a gentle coiling in her gut.

Eventually Garnet responded, “I think she's attractive, yeah?” She asked as if wanting the drummer’s opinion also. Her bandmate nodded slightly and Garnet continued with a noncommittal, “I dunno. Maybe.” 

“Garnet…” Amethyst sighed, turning onto another side street to avoid traffic. The silence the shorter girl was greeted with wasn't her being ignored. She knew Garnet wasn't a woman of many words, but it didn't mean that it didn't really infuriate her sometimes.

“Are you fucking- you're joking, right?” The curly haired girl’s grip tightened on the steering wheel until the blood seemed to drain from her knuckles and leaned back in her seat until her head was pressed against the headrest. Her dark eyes, previously trained on the road, turned to Garnet briefly to attempt some sort of read on her closest friend. Failing, she turned her gaze back to the streets and clenched her jaw in frustration. The taller woman reached her long fingers up over her forehead until they rested embedded in her thick, kinky hair. 

Leaning her elbow on the door, right at the base of the window, she allowed her palm to massage her forehead and sighed. She gazed through her glasses at the snow-coated ground outside. She never liked city snow. The slush was too abundant and the dirt made it all gray. It always seemed prettier in theory, never in practice.

“What am I doing wrong?” She questioned finally. Amethyst seemed to relax her grip on the wheel just slightly at the response.  

“You're being insensitive… Or maybe I'm just selfish. I dunno, it's just- we've been this unofficial  _ thing _ for years, G. Which is easily nothing compared to how much we've been through together, but still. You drop the L-word mid-fuck  _ two days ago _ and you're still planning on hooking up with randoms from our gig?” Garnet let Amethyst's raspy voice settle in the car, otherwise silent save for the sound of the heat coming through the vents and the loud engine. 

She struggled for an explanation, some sort of grasp on why her emotions didn't act like everyone else’s and why she doesn't even know if she knows  _ how  _ to love, let alone love someone as important to her as Amethyst.

Someone as passionate, beautiful, and honest as Amethyst. With a small groan she pulled her glasses off and squinted at the lights beaming from the other cars on the expressway. Using her other hand to pinch the bridge of her nose, Garnet hung her head in silent frustration. 

“Ame, I-”

“Forget it, Garnet.” The shorter woman sighed and took one hand from the wheel to run through her dark mane of looser curls. The bassist turned her mismatched eyes to her best friend with a look of festering hurt and fear. Hurt at being pushed away, and fearful of her inadequacy ruining their friendship… relationship? She didn't even know what they were at this point. 

“Amethyst, you know I care about you more than anyone else on this earth. Please- please just be patient with me.” Her voice weakened at the end, an action so abnormal that it made Amethyst turn to look at her for a brief moment before her eyes were back on the road. 

“Yeah… Yeah, no I can do that. Just help me out here, and maybe ease up on the blatant flirting with other people. Please? It's... a lot.” 

The darker skinned woman nodded from the passenger seat, relaxing now that their friendship wasn't in immediate peril. She slowly slid her glasses back onto her face and watched the cars speed past her window.

* * *

   Carrying the unconscious woman in their backseat into their one bedroom apartment proved to be easier than anticipated, considering she was practically no weight in Garnet’s arms. The bassist laid her gently out on the couch and grabbed a duvet from the hallway closet to warmly wrap around her. Standing back and looking at her work, Amethyst entered with her usual goofy smile, showing no evidence of her distress just twenty minutes ago. Garnet turned to look at the shorter woman changed out of most of her clothes and on her way to the shower. A smile tugged at her full lips as she ran a quick, but hungry gaze over her half-naked body from behind her shades. 

The Afro-Latina rolled her eyes playfully at the taller woman’s distracted silence and continued the short walk to their bathroom. 

“You're making dinner tonight!” Amethyst yelled over her shoulder as she reached the end of the hallway. 

“Ramen?” 

“Hook it up, fam.” Came the shorter woman's reply from behind the closed bathroom door. Garnet shuffled into their small kitchen and began to prepare two bowls of the duo’s quickest meal. After inserting two packages of the noodles into a pot she had begun boiling, she finally allowed herself to think through the night’s most recent events. Why was she so incapable of understanding proper emotional responses from others and herself? It hadn't even occurred to her that Amethyst would have cared if she hooked up with a stranger after their gig.

No one was afraid of losing her; it didn't add up.

Without the lights on in the tiny room, she removed her glasses and set them gently on the counter. Her long arm easily reached the drawer where she pulled out a fork to stir the pot and break up the noodles with. No one had ever been keen on keeping her around. Maybe she should have known that her best friend wasn't going to cast her aside like so many had before. 

Eleven years is a long friendship, one that Garnet had deluded herself into thinking was more so one of necessity and survival on Amethyst’s end than true desire to be around her. Sighing in frustration, she reached for the garlic powder and crushed red pepper from the cabinet of seasonings above her. Sprinkling both into the pot in a manner so practiced it was essentially mindless, she continued to ponder.

What if Amethyst was trying her out for something more personal in an effort to combat her loneliness? 

The shorter woman had always had a harder time connecting with people who had not grown up in the system with them. People who didn't know what it was like to be with a foster family and miss a few meals because they weren't actually interested in protecting you, only a paycheck, being locked in a temporary bedroom from the outside with the windows glued shut because they always had trouble with kids running away, being on the cusp of adoption before, for whatever reason, a family decides they don't really want you. 

Garnet’s free hand absentmindedly rose to run her fingers over the dented scar in the center of her forehead. 

Having jealous children biological to the parents sabotage your adoption. 

Shaking the thoughts from her head and letting her arm drop to her side, she internally scolded herself for derailing her thoughts of Amethyst back to her own issues. When the noodles were done, she turned the fire off with a quick, agitated movement and poured most of the water out into the sink. Placing two bowls from the drying rack onto the counter and helping an even amount of ramen into both of them, Garnet placed the pot back onto the stove and turned to grab the lemon juice from the refrigerator. She splashed a bit in both bowls and retrieved the cinnamon from the overhead cabinet to sprinkle over Amethyst’s. She never understood why the drummer liked it so much. 

By the time she cleaned up the kitchen and brought the bowls out, with forks, to place on the tiny coffee table in front of their medium sized television, Amethyst was exiting the bathroom. The curly haired woman stopped in their shared bedroom for a moment and exited briefly after, wearing nothing but underwear and one of Garnet’s favorite pro-black activist t-shirts. She plopped down on the floor beside the taller woman due to the couch currently being occupied by their new guest. Immediately taking a fork to the dish, Amethyst moaned at the taste and at her hunger finally being sated. 

“You're the only person I trust to make my ramen.” The shorter girl confessed around a mouthful of the noodles. They fell into an uneasy silence, carefree on Amethyst’s end and tense on Garnet's. After a stretched quiet, Amethyst tried again. 

“Great show tonight, by the way. The crowd was really feeling your new song.” The curly haired girl grinned with a mouth full of noodles and nudged her taller friend, only to be met with stony silence filled by tense chewing and their guests’ light breathing. With an unbothered shrug, Amethyst continued to dive into her meal with all the joy of a well fed child. Garnet’s teeth grounded painfully together as she stopped raising her fork to her mouth all together. The shorter girl cut a wary glance in her direction and flinched back once Garnet snapped her head to look down at her with a sharp intake of breath that surprisingly was not followed by any words.

Amethyst held her gaze hesitantly, squinting her large eyes in confusion.

“Uh, G?”

“How are you not angry with me? Why are we sitting here acting like nothing is wrong when I've so obviously hurt you?” The darker woman fretted, her accent becoming thicker in her distress. A frown marred her forehead, otherwise clear aside from her scar. Without her glasses, Garnet’s mismatched gaze flickered between Amethyst’s sympathetic, dark eyes. The shorter girl reached her hand up to gently tug at the bassist’s kinky curls, an action almost guaranteed to relax her even just a bit, but only when Amethyst did it. The drummer moved from her cross-legged position to her knees in order to be more level with her best friend and roommate. Garnet’s eyes fluttered despondently when Amethyst’s hand moved to cup her angular jaw. 

“When have I ever been pissed at you? Like seriously pissed off?” The shorter girl questioned with a patient, mature glint in her eyes that rarely materialized unless the situation was dire. Garnet’s gaze dropped to her tattooed palms, avoiding the curly haired girl’s loving brown eyes. 

“Look at me.” Amethyst commanded softly, her raspy voice soothing the twisting ache in the taller girl’s stomach ever so slightly. Garnet’s earthy brown and pale blue eyes finally met Amethyst’s searching ones. 

“Never.” Garnet mumbled guiltily, a pained look crossing her features. The shorter girl’s hand moved from her jaw to soothe the taut lines of a frown from the the singer’s forehead.

“Exactly. It's  _ okay,  _ Garnet.  _ We're  _ okay.”

The taller woman’s full lips pursed together for a moment as she continued to search the sincere gaze in front of her. Whatever she was looking for, she must have found it because in the next second she ducked in for a brief, gentle kiss to the shorter girl’s surprised lips. Before Amethyst could respond, Garnet had pulled back ever so slightly with a content curve to her lips and an unreadable glint in her mismatched eyes. 

“ _ Thank you _ .” She whispered gratefully before turning back to her meal with a renewed glow and leaving Amethyst with burning cheeks and a wild fluttering in her gut.

“N-no problem, G. Heh.” 

They ate in a more comfortable silence for the next few minutes until they both froze at the sound of quiet rustling behind them. Their gazes met for a split second before both of their heads whipped around to stare at their still very much unconscious guest. The visitor had rolled over to her stomach in her sleep and her face was now turned toward them, not quite full lips parted ever so slightly. Her back rose and fell in slumber and her eyeballs moved side to side dreamily behind her made-up eyelids. The unfamiliar woman’s arms were folded beneath her, parallel to her body, and the hand closest to the two tenants clenched into a sleepy fist beside her jaw.

“She  _ is  _ pretty.” Amethyst admitted quietly after a few moments of watching the light skinned woman get adjusted. Garnet’s full lips quirked upward in a knowing smirk as her elbow moved to nudge the shorter woman in the side. Her eyes began bothering her once more around the same time she finished her last bites. Glancing over and noting that Amethyst had finished her meal far before she did- she would never understand how the woman ate so quickly- she silently picked up both of their bowls and ambled the short distance to the kitchen. 

Garnet flicked on the faucet and set the dishes beneath the water to rinse out stray bits of food and eventually placed them in the dish water for later. She was far too tired to wash them at the moment. Drying her hands on the towel beside the sink, she quickly placed her glasses back over her eyes and walked out, flicking off the light and going straight back to she and Amethyst’s shared bedroom. 

As she stripped out of the day’s clothing, she heard light footsteps making their way down the short hallway. The door creaked open right as she was removing her halter top and Amethyst threw herself onto the bed with an  _ oof _ . The bassist hadn’t worn bras since she and Amethyst had run away from their foster system. When one is on the run from sixteen until adulthood, bras aren’t entirely practical, nor are they comfortable. Finally stripping her underwear and entering full nudity, she sauntered to the adjoined bathroom and closed the door behind her. 

Amethyst heard the water start up again and roughly scrubbed her hands over her face in a vain attempt to wash away the image of Garnet standing beneath the showerhead, curls falling lower and grazing her mid back with the weight of the water, the impending, enticing smell of mango scented soap and shea butter that always graced the room after she showered. She had known the woman since childhood, both entering the foster care system young, and she could attest to the fact that Garnet had  _ always _ been breathtaking. 

She met her when she was eight, Amethyst only being a year older than that, and she had the hugest mismatched eyes and most lovely dark skin. Her hair was perpetually in two massive puffballs and her kinky curls stretched down her back when Amethyst would play with it. The kid had the brightest smile and cried whenever she lost a tooth because she didn't trust that it would grow back at all, let alone stronger. Garnet was often the voice of reason that stopped Amethyst from getting into all the trouble she could have, and when they were placed in homes together with horrible foster parents, which seemed to be all of them, Garnet somehow kept her safe. She had always protected her, even to this day. 

Amethyst found herself smiling when she heard the water cut off and the sound of a towel being wrung out. She didn’t expect Garnet out of the bathroom just yet though, she was waiting for the scent of shea butter to join the lovely smell of mango soap. Eventually the woman exited into the bedroom dried off, moisturized, and naked. Amethyst knew she wouldn’t mind her gaze, they had seen each other naked an innumerable amount of times, both platonically and sexually, but she still rolled over and pretended to be on the edge of sleep when she heard the bathroom knob turn. 

She knew it would be a bit before the taller woman got into bed. Her ritual of detangling, coconut oil and a twist-out to prep her hair for the morning would take twenty minutes tops. When she was finished, Garnet slipped into the bed; the bassist had nothing on but a bonnett. Of course Amethyst was aware that she slept naked. She had done so since they had gotten the apartment, yet with the odd sexual tension between them both there was no way she could sleep now. The bedside lamp flickered off and they laid in silence. 

There were so many things that she could say, so many things that she  _ wanted _ to say… and no idea how to say any of them. This was one of the many times she wished Garnet were more vocal about her feelings. She knew her long enough to understand why she was often closed off, and Amethyst knew she was lucky for Garnet to open up to her as much as she already did, but there were things left unsaid that needed to be out in the open. Without recognizing she was doing so, Amethyst sighed once she realized most of the feelings being bottled up were from her own end.

“What’s wrong?” Garnet murmured from her right. The room was pitch black aside from the city lights filtering in through their closed blinds, but Amethyst could still make out the vague shape of Garnet’s profile once she turned to face the taller woman. 

“Oh, you know… Just wondering how good an idea it is to leave a stranger alone in our house- Unconscious or not.” The lighter skinned girl joked, and she didn’t need the lights on to know that Garnet wasn’t buying her bullshit. 

“While I understand your concern… I also know that’s not what’s really bothering you.” Amethyst heard the covers shift with Garnet’s body and soon the taller woman was propping herself up on an elbow to look at her best friend. The curly haired girl allowed yet another heavy sigh to exit between her dry lips and she rolled over to her back to glare up at the ceiling. 

“We’ve been… We’ve been this  _ thing _ for years now, this unspoken sort of  _ whatever _ thing, and it’s almost casual, but then again I can’t even call it that because we’re too close for whatever  _ this  _ is to just be  _ casual _ …” The Afro-Latina struggled to get her meaning across and could only hope that Garnet could follow where she was going with this.    
“But for simplicity, let’s call it casual… I can’t do that- do  _ casual _ . You’re my best friend, G. You’ve been there for me and I’ve been there for you our entire lives, so of course I love you… but love and being  _ in  _ love are very, very different things.” 

Garnet could only watch Amethyst’s still silhouette in a panicked silence that seemed to clutch her entire body in its grip. Where was she going with this? Opening up was one of her weakest suits, but being opened up to at a level this deep, this real, was definitely at the top. 

“And you- you don’t know how to love, Garnet. As much as you want to do right by the people you care about… you don’t love.”

An icy fist gripped in a tight vice around Garnet’s lungs as a sharp intake of breath seized her. Amethyst had taken her monologue in an entirely different direction than she anticipated. Finally blinking, she was stunned to hear tears jumping down to the sheets beside her bare elbow. She had these self-deprecating thoughts on her own for who knew how long, tearing herself apart over not knowing how to display her love appropriately to the few people on earth she cared about. And it wasn’t her fault that she was fucked up, that she was somehow incapable of loving the way she was supposed to, but saying that it didn’t kill her every time she was reminded of it would be a lie. 

“I do- that  _ is _ love. Wanting to do right by those you care for is  _ love _ , or part of it.” Unfortunately, the desperate edge to her accented voice made it sound like she was trying to convince herself more than Amethyst. She wasn’t sure, and the shorter girl could hear it in her tone, but Garnet plowed on. “And of course I love you. I’ve stood by your side since we were kids, and I never let anything happen to you. Not once. When we were on the street, starving, and you dreamed of making honest money so we could provide for ourselves-”

“Garnet, stop-”

“And we came across those guys selling their old instruments who wanted nothing but-”

“ _ Garnet-” _

“Who wanted nothing but a  _ fuck _ , a piece of us each, what did I do?”

“I didn’t mean-”

“I said I’d fuck them  _ both _ so you didn’t have to. So you’d be safe.”

The silence following her loud whispers pierced the air between them in a way that could have shattered glass. Amethyst’s eyes were screwed shut against the guilt that gripped her every time she remembered that night. The only sounds were Garnet’s watery breaths and Amethyst’s pounding heart. 

“Don’t  _ ever _ tell me I don’t love. Just because it’s not the way you want doesn’t mean it’s not more than you can imagine.” With that final icy statement, Garnet turned over and faced opposite the curly haired girl, tucking further into herself and sniffling once before falling silent. Amethyst stared at the back of her bonnett-covered head and let shame wash over her in waves. 

She deserved that. She deserved every one of Garnet’s words


	2. A lover's quarrel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl's awake. Drama ensues.

The next morning was...eventful.

It began in a way that set the tone for the rest of the day, one that would not escape their memories any time soon. 

It began with screaming. 

The strange guest in the living room was awake and terrified, unaware of her surroundings and fully convinced she had been kidnapped. Technically, that is pretty much what happened, so when Amethyst jolted out of bed and dashed to the screaming woman before Garnet had even stirred, the woman typically sleeps like a rock, she found the strawberry blonde woman with flushed cheeks and disheveled hair. The stranger whipped around to look at Amethyst, wide eyes brimming with panicked tears and another scream rising in her throat. The shorter girl quickly shot her hands out in front of her, fingers splayed in the universal signal of being unarmed and non threatening. 

“Woah, woah- don't panic, okay? You were really out of it last night an-”

The paler woman clutched the loaned duvet to her chest as she pressed herself further back into the couch. 

“Where am I? What did you do?”

“You're in me and my roommate’s apartment. It's not far from the bar you passed out at last night. We didn't know where you were staying while you're in Chicago so we just took you back here so you’d be safe…” The brown skinned girl trailed off at the look in the other woman’s eyes. They were now wide with disbelief and appreciation instead of terror, almost as if she were stricken by how kind they had been to protect her. The number of things that could have happened to her physically and psychologically had anyone else taken her flashed through her mind in horrifying snapshots.

She was silent for a long moment before she whispered a shaky, “T-thank you...um-”

“Amethyst. My name’s Amethyst. What's yours?” She asked patiently, valiantly attempting to prevent another case of hysteria and her voice still thick with sleep.

“Thank you, Amethyst… I’m Pearl. So, um, where's this roommate you mentioned?” She questioned warily. She had an overwhelming feeling that the woman in front of her was somehow connected to the woman she couldn't take her eyes off of last night. 

If only she could remember...

Her light eyed gaze scanned the living room as if Garnet would appear around the corner… Which, surprisingly, she did. The tall bassist had thankfully thrown on an oversized shirt before she left the bedroom; it fell to her mid thigh and Amethyst was almost positive it was the only article of clothing on her body. Her twist out was in the process of being taken down and half of her hair fell in a curly heap over one shoulder. 

“I’m right here.”

Garnet’s long legs carried her to the doorway of the kitchen, turning to watch the two women across from her through stylish dark glasses. Pearl’s face would have been comical had it not sent an immediate surge of jealousy and protectiveness through Amethyst. The paler woman’s gaze subconsciously raked up Garnet’s curvaceous body with her lips parted in shock and her fingers loosening their grip on the duvet around her shoulders. Amethyst watched her throat bob with a heavy swallow before Pearl seemed to snap out of it and ashamedly cast her eyes to the floor. Her cheeks burned a fiery crimson under skin only a few shades lighter than Amethyst's. 

“So I hear you're a screamer.” Garnet smirked from across the living room, eyes unreadable behind her glasses. The dark skinned woman quickly undid two more twists as she patiently waited for the stranger to stop sputtering. “I-I thought I was kidnapped!”

The taller woman shrugged one shoulder and finished taking down the remaining couple of twists in her hair, allowing her thick curls to splay around her face like a shoulder blade-length lion’s mane. 

“You were. Technically.” She took a brief pause before quirking her lips up in an amused smile.

“Sorry ‘bout that.” 

Pearl hastily shook her head and allowed her gratitude to reappear on her face. 

“No, no! There's no telling what would've happened if you two hadn't… though I never thought I would one day thank strangers for abducting me…” The lighter woman trailed off in thought, leaving Amethyst to watch between the two with slowly building rage. It was irrational, and she knew that, but especially after her insensitive accusation the night before, she felt especially clingy to Garnet since she wasn't in the bassist’s good graces. Not to mention this stranger is the same woman Garnet would have hooked up with, and would have damned her to listen to the two of them fucking in the makeshift ‘spare bedroom’ down the hall. Her face burned with barely restrained fury.

“ _ Any _ way, I know it’s Friday and everything but we still need to drop off those speakers at Vidalia’s. She needs them for her kickback tonight, remember?” Amethyst hastily shifted the subject, cutting her gaze to Garnet’s and becoming doubly frustrated that she couldn’t tell if the taller woman was even looking at her. Pearl’s plump lips pursed together as she picked up on the budding tension between the two roommates. Garnet’s head tilted to the side and she folded her arms as she leaned against the door frame, one leg crossed over the other. 

“Both of us don’t need to go. Who’s gonna watch our guest?” 

Pearl’s back straightened and she interjected with a raised index finger, “I don’t want to be a burden-”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll stay here. I have music to work on, anyway.” Garnet shrugged nonchalantly and Amethyst’s cheek twitched in contempt. The curly haired drummer walked over and snatched the car keys off of the hook and moved to the back room to acquire the speakers in question. The bassist didn’t move, but Pearl was stuck on the couch, choking on the tension thickening the air. 

“So, what’s your name?” Garnet questioned politely. She pushed off of the door frame and moved to sit on the arm of the couch, legs crossed, the one on top’s foot bouncing gently. 

“Oh, I’m Pearl. And you are...?”

“I’m Garnet, and a bit surprised you don’t remember me from last night. You’re pretty forward.” The thin woman blanched at the statement and then quickly turned red as her hands rushed to cover her face.

“Please tell me I didn’t- I’m  _ so _ sorry-”

“It’s okay, promise. I would’ve taken you up on it had you been in your right mind.” The taller woman chuckled, a teasing grin pulling at her full lips. Pearl was completely mortified, wringing her fingers at the base of her stomach and looking everywhere but at Garnet’s amused quirk of lips.  

“You hungry?” The taller woman questioned, seemingly unphased by her guest’s burning face and clammed up body posture. Pearl’s face scrunched up slightly as she considered the question and then immediately smoothed out as she shook her head in response. Garnet’s neatly trimmed eyebrows arched in skepticism above her shades. 

“Sure?” She questioned. Pearl’s face finally revealed her queasiness as she nodded, her thin arms rising from beneath the duvet to wrap around her stomach uneasily. Her mouth opened and closed for a short moment before she finally found her words. 

“Where is your bathroom?” 

“Through the bedroom, the door on the left. If you walk into a closet the width of one of your arms, you’ve gone the wrong way.” Garnet joked, calmly watching the other woman squirm beneath her unwavering gaze. Pearl hastily rose from her perched position on the edge of the couch and briskly moved in the direction the bassist pointed her toward. As she exited, Amethyst entered from the back room in the opposite direction, scowling as her eyes caught sight of Pearl’s back.

She put the speakers down by the door with much more force than necessary.

Garnet turned to face the shorter woman with a frown marring her face.

“ _ What _ is your problem?” She snapped at the drummer, standing up from the arm of the couch and narrowing her eyes beneath her glasses. Amethyst raised her brows in disbelief, scoffing at the question laced in accusation.

“ _ My _ problem? Right. Okay, Garnet. Let’s pretend last night’s conversation in the car didn’t happen and I’ll act like we didn’t  _ just  _ talk about you not flirting with other people until we figure out what the hell  _ this  _ is.” The curly haired girl’s husky voice steadily increased in volume as she gestured between the two of them at the end of her rant. She was almost drowning out the sounds of Pearl’s retching in the other room. The taller woman’s arched eyebrows shot up in disbelief with a scoff that mirrored Amethyst’s earlier one almost exactly. The heat coursing through her face and neck at the frustration and countless other emotions elicited by the girl opposite her was distracting when it came to formulating a response. 

“ _ Who _ is flirting? I’ve done nothin’ but try to make her feel at ease after she woke up screamin’ for her life. I offered her breakfast, for fuck sake, Ame, relax!” The buzzing emotional tension in the room put Garnet in a state of distress and her words came out quicker and far more accented than usual. Her face burned behind her glasses. 

“Bull _ shit _ , Garnet!” 

Amethyst hadn’t used her full name like that, angry and frustrated, in years.

“I’m not fucking stupid! I  _ just _ heard you in here, all ‘ _ I would’ve taken you up on it _ ’ and ‘ _ I hear you’re a screamer. _ ’” She mocked in a horrible attempt at mimicking Garnet’s residual West London accent. The dark skinned woman looked on with hurt eyes masked by her dark tinted glasses. If she had been flirting she didn’t realize it. That was just how she talked to people. No wonder Amethyst was upset.

“The first one wasn’t flirtin’, it was a fact. The next was a joke, Ame, come on!” Her voice began to take on a pleading quality and her heartbeat in her ears was so loud she didn’t even notice that Pearl had gone quiet in the bathroom.

“And wasn’t last night you breakin’ this off? Why’s it even matter if you don’t plan to be with me anyway? Since apparently I ‘can’t love’ you?” The last bit was laced in bitter venom, the accusatory question only spurred on by the hurt she still felt fluttering against her chest at the words Amethyst had whispered across the darkness of their bed to her last night. Amethyst went still at the question, her body tensed and locked up with no sign of moving. A pained look of something like guilt and sadness flashed across her face just quick enough for the bassist to catch. Garnet couldn’t even tell if she was breathing.

After a pained moment of heavy silence that permeated the entire apartment, Amethyst let out a mirthless, bitter chuckle through full lips quirked up into smirk followed by one bitter nod of her head.

“Break what off? You were never my girlfriend, remember?” The words were thick with barely concealed anger and hurt, and they came off hard and heavy as she turned on her heel with the house and car keys in hand. 

She scooped up the speakers in silence.

Garnet didn’t let out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding until the front door shut behind Amethyst’s back.

_ What the fuck just happened? _

Garnet had just sucked in a sharp breath of panic and took a step toward where she had last seen the drummer’s retreating back when she spotted a shock of strawberry blonde hair from the other doorway. It wasn’t until she met Pearl’s sad, wide blue eyes that she realized there were tears dripping down her own chin from behind her glasses. Garnet’s long fingers hastily reached up to swipe the mess away, casting her gaze in another direction and wiping her now damp hands on the sides of her oversized t-shirt. 

“Um, you sure you don’t want breakfast or anythin’? I can make you pancakes if you want... Oh, never mind, are you alright? How’s your stomach feelin’? I heard you throwin’ up in there.” Garnet mumbled, rambling on and only lifting her head to look at the guest after remembering what she had gone to the bathroom for to begin with, but her hands still wrung themselves in front of her stomach and her voice still sounded watery. Pearl said nothing, but her large eyes only softened even more as she took slow, tentative steps toward the dark skinned bassist. When she stood about three feet in front of her, Pearl stopped and looked up into her reflection shown against Garnet’s dimly tinted glasses. She would have been embarrassed of her rumpled appearance had she not been consumed with so much guilt and sympathy for this stranger.

“This is my fault.” Pearl nearly whispered as the corners of her pink lips turned down in remorse.

“ _ Thank you _ for taking me in last night, really, but I think it’s best if I go.” The shorter woman’s words were laced in gratitude and sadness and she looked at Garnet like words couldn't convey how thankful she truly was, and Garnet’s heart fell just a bit more at the prospect of being left alone. She slid her glasses up to the top of her head and looked down at her guest with a small smile. 

Pearl’s mouth fell open slightly at the sight of her different colored eyes.

“Did you drive to the bar? I can take you back to your car when Ame...gets back.” The bassist stumbled over her roommate's name, an unfamiliar hurting in her chest flaring up at the thought of her.

“No, I was with a friend last night and… she left with her boyfriend. You might know him, he plays there sometimes, too. Greg?” Garnet’s eyes widened in recognition and she nodded her head for the smaller woman to continue. 

“Yeah, she left with him and we had both been drinking,” she omitted the smoking though she could probably assume Garnet already knew, “She probably didn’t realize I didn’t have a ride back, it’s fine. I’ll text her to come get me.” Pearl made the excuse for this mystery woman like she’d been doing it all her life. As she spoke, she fished her phone out of her back pocket and unlocked it, looking up at Garnet with a one worded question.

“Address?”

The bassist rattled off the series of numbers followed by the street name and closest main street for easier navigation before the blonde sent off the text and was immediately met with a message cheerily declaring, “omw!” punctuated by a yellow emoticon sticking its pink tongue out, one eye closed in a wink.

They sat on the couch with idle small talk until Pearl received a text message alerting her to her friend’s arrival downstairs. Pearl left Garnet with a tight hug and another expression of gratitude for making sure she didn’t end up in a missing person’s report the night before.

 

* * *

Amethyst didn’t come home until ten in the evening.

When she made her way through the dark, quiet house, she stopped at their bedroom door, cracked open just enough to look through without much effort. The smell of sea-scented candles filled her nostrils the closer she got to the room and her dark eyes drank in the sight of Garnet sitting cross legged on their shared bed, thick, kinky hair messily pulled up into a bun on the top of her head as she scribbled with near-frantic speed in her song journal. 

The bassist worried her bottom lip between her white teeth as her eyebrows furrowed over her mismatched eyes. Amethyst could make out her glasses on the bedside table through the dim room only lit by what seemed to be two candles burning on both sides. The shorter girl jumped and nearly gave herself away when Garnet exhaled a frustrated rush of air and turned her gaze toward the ceiling. From that angle, Amethyst saw the candle light reflecting off of the dampness on her cheeks and a vice gripped around her heart in response. 

Without thinking, she slowly pushed the door open to reveal her guilty form. The creaky door alerted Garnet to her presence. The dark skinned woman jumped and her eyes snapped down toward Amethyst’s carefully blank face. Any ideas of how this encounter would go dissolved as the taller woman nearly threw her pen and journal to the side, slid off the bed and crossed the room in two of her long-legged steps in one fluid motion. Before the drummer could react, Garnet’s arms were around her shoulders, pulling her into a deep hug that she’d swear her entire body melted into without permission. Slowly, her arms came up to slide around Garnet’s slim waist and rest on her wide hips, burrowing her face into her best friend’s neck as the taller woman rested her chin on Amethyst’s head.

“I fucked up, G, I-”

Garnet hushed her quietly, leaning down to press a gentle kiss against the other girl’s temple.

“I’m sorry, too.”

Amethyst pulled back eventually, her smaller hands gently holding on to Garnet’s toned upper arms, to look up at the bassist’s face. Her earlier tears were dry, though those large different colored eyes seemed just as wide and just as sad. Wordlessly, Amethyst guided the two of them over to their made bed and turned the covers down, taking care to place Garnet’s pen and journal on the nightstand beside her glasses before doing so. The taller woman got down into her side of the bed and held her arms out for Amethyst to crawl in as well. The brown skinned drummer slowly slid into Garnet’s embrace, her arms wrapped around the taller woman’s waist as she resumed her position in the crook of Garnet’s neck. 

Placing slow, idle kisses to the soft, wonderfully scented skin there, the darker skinned woman let out a contented sigh and relaxed into Amethyst’s body. Her long fingers traced idle patterns against the small of Amethyst’s back where her t-shirt and shorts left a sliver of skin exposed. With a particular nip against her neck, Garnet’s fingers flexed suddenly and she probably left faint little crescent marks from her nails against the drummer’s back. If she had, Amethyst didn’t mind, because the next thing Garnet felt was a cool tongue soothing over the bite and a breath hitched in the back of her throat. Arching her neck to expose it some more only spurred Amethyst on, lavishing it in little suckles and bites, sure to leave marks the next morning. A stifled moan presented Amethyst with a challenge she was happy to take, working her way down Garnet’s silky body until she reached the burden of that oversized t-shirt. A hand on her shoulder stopped the curly haired girl from continuing her quest downward.

“You have work tomorrow.” Garnet got out in the gust of a wound-up puff of air. 

“I want to– God I want to, but you know how you are in the mornings if you don't get at least seven hours.” Being the level-headed, responsible roommate was a bittersweet, cuntblocking job at times. Amethyst groaned, knowing the woman beneath her with a voice like honey and skin as soft as velvet was right. She buried her face into the shuddering muscles of Garnet’s abdomen and stayed there for a moment while she seemed to be pulling herself together, hormone by hormone. Eventually she lifted her head and huffed, staring at Garnet with a fond, lopsided grin.

“You're gonna be the death of me, Boss Lady.” 

Garnet smiled at the nickname and pulled Amethyst down to lay on top of her. A moment of blissful silence passed before Garnet chuckled beneath the half-asleep body. 

“You're still dressed.” 

All she received in reply was a faint grunt and the feeling of Amethyst’s round nose burying further into the crook of her neck. Shaking her head internally, she smiled and wrapped her arms around the brunette’s waist, pulling her closer to hold through the night.

 

   Garnet woke to the sound of her alarm, a gentle chiming tone that wouldn't jolt her from her sleep, and frowned at the absence of warmth on top of her body. Blindly groping out on either sides of the bed, she realized that she was alone. After blearily throwing on her shades, perched on the nightstand from last night, she threw her long legs over the side of the bed and half-heartedly attempted smoothing down her rumpled t-shirt. The smell of something vanilla and cinnamon scented hit her nostrils once she was awake enough to pay attention and her feet carried her toward the smell without her consent. 

The sight she was greeted with knocked the breath out of her lungs.

Amethyst stood at the stove, a spatula in one hand and the other placed on the handle of the skillet as she expertly flipped another pancake onto a nearby plate. Garnet’s shaded eyes raked down the shorter woman’s body, drinking in her tussled bedhead, down to the too small t-shirt she had probably hastily thrown on in the middle of the night and nothing else but a pair of deep purple underwear that hugged her curvy form just right. 

Garnet couldn't tell if her mouth was watering for the pancakes or for Amethyst.

Probably both.

Unable to help herself, the bassist slipped behind the older girl and slid her arms around her waist, caressing her pudgy belly with long fingers. Garnet leaned down and nipped at Amethyst’s neck when she let out a contented sigh and spurred the dark skinned woman onward. 

“You woke up before me.” Garnet observed with astonishment in her honeyed voice as she gently traced the stretch marks on the curly haired girl’s sides. Amethyst chuckled and flicked the stove off, turning around in Garnet’s arms and leaning up to place a lingering kiss on the underside of her jaw.

“And  _ you  _ woke up before I was finished making your apology breakfast.” She admitted with traces of guilt tainting her tone. Garnet’s eyebrows furrowed over her glasses and she looked down into Amethyst’s eyes for a moment before moving one hand up to cup her cheek.

“I’m not upset with you. We both said things we didn't mean or that we regret. In the case of your fear of how I do or don't love...that's a valid concern to have. I should've talked with you instead of getting defensive. I don't want you to doubt how much I care about you.” The bassist shot her a shy smile and leaned down to press her full lips against Amethyst’s. The shorter girl’s arms moved to wrap around Garnet’s neck once she blindly threw the spatula to the counter behind her body. They stayed locked in that embrace, lips languidly moving together until Amethyst drew back and panted, “Your breakfast is gonna get cold.”

Garnet looked down with a teasing smirk playing on the corners of her mouth.

“We have a microwave.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the wonderful feedback a few of you left on the last chapter. Your comments meant so much to me. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and let me know what you think
> 
> come talk to me at bakedgarnet.tumblr.com


	3. Observation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl sees Amethyst and Garnet again and she just can't seem to say anything right.

   That next Thursday, the roommates were back at the same bar, performing the same set. This time the crowd was rowdier, mostly college kids, and much more inebriated than the previous audiences had been. Their energy pulsated through the duo like a live wire, zinging through their bloodstream until they were playing off of each other and the audience, getting lost in their own music like it was their concert right there in that bar. 

Thousands of screaming fans or twenty some hyped patrons, the rush was all the same. 

When their set was over, Amethyst was wiping a droplet of sweat from her brow when her dark eyes landed on a familiar shock of strawberry blonde hair. Her nostrils flared out of pure instinct. Garnet turned around mid sentence, uncharacteristically gushing over how great the set was, her eyes alight and smile putting galaxies to shame when her expression immediately morphed into worry over the look on Amethyst’s face. 

“Ame? What's wr–”

“Your  _ friend _ is here.” The shorter woman frowned petulantly, refusing to meet Garnet’s gaze. She knew she was being immature, but the thought of losing Garnet period, let alone to some stranger made her want to throw up and so instead she pouted, terribly afraid of upsetting the bassist with her jealousy once again. 

“What fri-”

“Garnet! Amethyst!” 

The pair whipped around to face the voice coming from in front of the stage. There stood Pearl, in all of her slim and graceful glory, next to an equally stunning olive skinned woman with wildly curly, dyed pink hair and Greg, wearing his usual black band t-shirt with a yellow star across the front. They made an intriguing trio. 

There was Pearl– fashionable, tall, thin and statuesque in her amalgam of feminine and masculine clothing styles. Pointed nose and large blue eyes that were just as expressive as her plump lips. 

Then there was this woman beside her– a sight to behold in her height and weight, her flowing dress and earthy, crystal based jewelry making her resemble some sort of nature goddess, unruly pink hair that reached her bust framing her kind, round face, and serene brown eyes. 

Finally, Greg– who didn't seem to fit with either of these two women. His hair was untamed, though not in the same stylish, alluring way that the woman’s beside him was. His black shirt had what appeared to be a mustard stain on the front, and his cut off jean shorts were easily impractical for the Chicago weather in the winter. He lacked the grace the other two women carried as well, staring up at the stage with his hand on the back of his neck and an awkward smile on his thin lips. 

Garnet stepped off the raised stage and crossed her arms in front of her body with a polite smile.

“Pearl, nice to see you again. Sober.” She cracked a grin at the blush that rose to the shorter woman’s face. Amethyst took a breath and calmed herself down, mentally promising to be more mature about the entire situation– if there even was one. Maybe she was blowing it all out of proportion. She stepped down herself and stood beside Garnet, offering her own polite smile to the three people in front of her. 

“‘Sup, Pearly.” Amethyst shot a welcoming smile at the taller woman, who was obviously stunned at her change in demeanor. 

“H-hey, Amethyst. I actually wanted to introduce you both to Rose. She wanted to thank you for taking care of me the other day.” Pearl finished, looking between the two women opposite her and struggling to figure out who she wanted to stare at more. Pearl hadn't gotten a chance to really _see_ Amethyst, the longest period of time holding her gaze was spent clouded by her own panic at waking up in an unfamiliar house, and the last time she was at the bar, her attention had solely belonged to Garnet. 

Amethyst’s thick, spiral-like curls splayed around her face like a lion’s mane, a small portion of the top half pulled up into a medium sized bantu knot at the top of her head. Her dark brown eyes were large, but lidded in her cool demeanor. Pearl’s eyes raked up her body, noting the distressed, loose denim jeans which had a waistband that dipped far past her bellybutton and revealed the band of a pair of boxers. Her t-shirt was skin tight and beige with red accents at the hems of the shirt and sleeves. It only came to her mid stomach, and could have resembled a child’s shirt had she not been positive it was simply made that way, considering the words on the front:

_ Ain't Your Fucking Girl. _

Her shoes were white– or they used to be. The emblem to the brand was probably under the caked dirt and dried salt left from the icy sidewalks outside. 

In the brief moment it took for Pearl to assess Amethyst, the shorter girl had caught her gaze and allowed a small, knowing smirk to play on the corners of her full lips. The light skinned woman blushed even more and resigned herself to looking down at the floor. That seemed safer.

Rose’s voice drew her gaze back up toward her friend, though. 

“I feel awful for leaving her; I’d had a lot to drink so I wasn't exactly thinking straight, but  _ Greg _ was sober and telling me that she'd be fine,” Rose cut a withering glance toward her boyfriend that made him shrink further into himself. She turned back to the two band members with a gentle smile completely opposite the look she had given Greg seconds ago. 

“I took care of him already. Don't worry.” Rose said.

Garnet nodded toward the taller woman in acknowledgement, sensing the tension amongst the three friends before her, yet opting not to comment on it. 

“It was no problem, really. If you need anything at all, you can always find us.” The last bit was directed at Pearl and the short haired woman nearly beamed in gratitude. Especially because she knew that it  _ had  _ been a problem. Being the catalyst for a verbal brawl between–friends? lovers?– was absolutely the definition of it being a  _ problem, _ but she took Garnet’s word anyway and tried to erase those doubts.

“Though, Greg, if you ever do that shit again, Ame and I  _will_  wreck your ass.” The dark skinned woman promised with a perfectly straight face and calm tone of voice that somehow made the threat twice as real. Greg gulped and shoved his hands deep into his shorts’ pockets, rocking back on his bare heels guiltily.

Where were this man's shoes?

“Message received…” He murmured toward the ground. Rose looked at Garnet with a beaming smile, her demeanor contrasting the threat issued toward her boyfriend immensely. 

“Well it was nice meeting you two! Amazing show tonight! You're both very beautiful!” The last part was thrown over her shoulder with a tinkling giggle as she pulled Greg by the hand, whisking him away in her trail of radiance. Pearl looked torn.

Rose and Greg were headed back toward the bar, but Garnet and Amethyst were right in front of her. 

Her throat was dry. 

“So, what’d you think of the show, Pearl?” Amethyst asked cordially, shooting a half grin up at the flustered woman. Garnet’s arm slid casually around the drummer’s waist as her other hand occupied itself typing with impressive speed on her phone. The blonde let out a breath as she beamed. 

“It was amazing! I can't believe you two even perform in bars like this; those songs belong in a stadium.” Pearl gushed honestly. Amethyst felt her cheeks heat up around her smile at the praise and shrugged one shoulder with modesty. 

“Do you play any instruments? Sing, or anything?” Amethyst asked.

“I sing a bit… I took violin lessons when I was younger but I haven't touched one in years, so I'm probably a bit rusty.” Pearl admitted with a slight downturn of her lips.

Amethyst beamed, “You should totally come to one of our rehearsals sometime!” she suggested, no longer forcing herself to make conversation. She genuinely wanted to talk to Pearl. Garnet’s eyes looked up from her phone at that and she shot a half-grin in Pearl’s direction. 

“If you come, bring ear plugs. Amethyst likes to get a bit… rambunctious on the drums. I’m used to it, but I’m pretty sure my hearing loss is finally getting noticeable.” Garnet said, glancing fondly down at Amethyst and tightening the grip around her waist in affection. Amethyst groaned, “You knew you needed ear plugs! It’s not my fault you refuse to wear them.” She complained in mock exasperation, as if they’d had this conversation hundreds of times before. 

“I already deal with photophobia  _ and _ hetero-” 

“Heterochromia, I know!” Amethyst grinned with a playful eye-roll, “It’s the only thing hetero about you.” she cackled, then turned to look at Pearl, who stood there in baffled amusement. 

“She thinks because she already has two vision issues that messing with any of her other senses is, like, a sin.” Amethyst explained.

“Really?” Pearl giggled a bit.

“Oh yeah, don't let her get sick and not be able to smell or taste anything; she loses her shit.” Amethyst teased, turning and leaning up to place a kiss on Garnet’s cheek to soften the comment even though they have joked about that very subject countless times before.

“Photophobia is a sensitivity to light, right?” At the two nods she received in response, Pearl continued. 

“And what’s...heterochromia?” Pearl attempted the pronunciation of the unfamiliar word. Garnet spoke then, sliding her phone into the back pocket of her denim jeans. The blonde had no clue how it fit; the pants were deliciously skin tight.

“Well there are different kinds. I have complete heterochromia. It’s the reason I was born with one blue eye and one brown eye, and that itself doesn't mess with my sight since it’s just genetics… but the photophobia does. Cue the shades.” She explained patiently. Pearl considered her words curiously. She was definitely intrigued now if she wasn't before.

“Ah it's genetic… Which parent did you get it from?” The shorter woman questioned, missing Amethyst’s widening eyes at the question because her focus was entirely on Garnet.

The bassist’s lips turned downward just slightly as she responded.

“My mum.”

Pearl continued on, not sensing that anything was amiss.

“So are the same eyes different colors for both of you? Like do you both have one brown left eye and one blue right eye?” It was a strange question, she'd admit, but the subject was fascinating. 

“Uh, Pearl–” Amethyst began to interrupt, but she was cut off by Garnet’s quiet realization.

“...I don't remember.” The dark skinned woman frowned behind her shades and she was so thankful no one could see what had to have been a pained look in her eyes.

“What do you mean?” Pearl questioned innocently.

“She committed suicide when I was six. Lost any photos of her a long time ago. I don't _remember_.” Garnet’s voice had regained it’s strength, and to anyone who didn't know her very well she sounded as she always did, but Amethyst could hear the detached undertone to her words. The tall woman’s arm withdrew from around Amethyst’s waist and joined her other one in crossing over her chest. 

She was closing up.

Pearl’s wide blue eyes and stunned silence gave way to mortified stuttering before she shut her mouth completely. Her hands fidgeted at her sides and eventually she settled for a terribly remorseful, “I am  _ so  _ sorry.”

Garnet shrugged one shoulder, “No worries.”

Trying to change the subject to a lighter one, Pearl hastily asked, “So does your dad come watch you perform?” This time she didn't miss Amethyst's reaction. The drummer’s head fell into her hands with a muffled, “Oh, man.” Before Pearl could backtrack, Garnet spoke.

“My  _ mom _ died of alcohol poisoning as a result of her alcoholism following my mum’s death. So no, she doesn't watch us perform.” Her tone had turned bitter somewhere along her answer and Pearl couldn't get her mouth open to apologize again before Garnet mumbled something about going to the bathroom and disappeared. Amethyst watched Pearl warily. The woman’s breaths were coming in short and panicked and her face was a brilliant red. The drummer stepped forward and gripped Pearl’s forearms, forcing the taller woman to look her in the eyes. 

“Hey, Pearl, breathe. In and out with me, okay? In,” Amethyst took a slow, deep breath inward and Pearl tried her best to copy it. 

“Out.” The curly haired woman released a slow breath outward and repeated the process with Pearl several times until the blonde’s breathing was less erratic without assistance. Suddenly it seemed like the bar was too loud, too rowdy and too dirty and Pearl had an overwhelming urge to flee. She didn't know how Amethyst read that on her face, but she suggested, “Let's go get some air outside, okay?” Pearl nodded quietly and allowed herself to be led out the back door. 

The two stood in the alleyway in silence for a moment. The Chicago wind whipped their hair at their faces and the biting cold would have been uncomfortable if not for the overwhelming heat generated by so many inebriated bodies in one bar. The freezing temperature was a relief. 

Sludge slicked the bottoms of their shoes and broken glass crunched under Amethyst's feet. The brick wall supporting their backs felt like ice against their thin clothes. Maybe she should've grabbed Pearl a jacket. Amethyst considered the thought for a moment before asking something else. 

“You alright?”

Pearl’s baby blue eyes looked everywhere but to the side of her where Amethyst stood. Her puff of breath was visible in the cold air as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her black leather jacket. The pink blouse she wore beneath it billowed in the aggressive wind and she scuffed the bottom of her black platform boots against the alleyway pavement silently. Amethyst watched her short, usually tamed hair blow around the front of her face. She hadn't realized it wasn't in its usual quiff this time. The back was cut close, but the front gave way to a bob that curtained half of her face when she held her head down like she did now. The pink-ish tint to it was less visible outside than under the fluorescent lights in the bar. 

“Garnet’s not mad at you, I swear. She just gets really emotional about her moms and still doesn't know how to, like, deal with those feelings yet. She only needs time to calm down, and she likes to be alone when she does that, so don't take it personally.” Amethyst tried again, ducking her head to try and meet the woman’s eyes beside her. It took a moment, but eventually Pearl held her head up and met Amethyst’s kind gaze. What the brown skinned girl wasn't expecting, however, was the self deprecating chuckle that left the lighter woman’s pink lips.

“I didn't expect you to be so nice to me.” She admitted, moving her hands from her jacket pockets and crossing her arms over her body. “It's like I’m bad luck around the both of you.” Pearl laughed mirthlessly and dropped her gaze back toward the pile of dirt infused snow to the other side of her. 

Amethyst sighed.

“Pearl what happened when we first met you wasn't your fault. You just happened to be caught in the middle of an argument that had been waiting to happen for a long time.” At Pearl’s gaze lifting to meet her dark eyes, Amethyst continued, “And what happened just now was just a misunderstanding. There's no way you could've known about G’s moms. No one told you we’re foster kids...or we used to be… But regardless of that,” the blonde dropped her arms to her sides, studying Amethyst's face as she talked out of pure compulsion.

“you can't blame yourself for things that aren't in your control. You'll be beating yourself up forever if you do.” Amethyst finished with a small smile and a light shrug. Pearl was shocked to feel a tear drop down her cheek and there Amethyst’s fingers were wiping it away. 

“No tears, P. Let’s head back inside. I’m freezing my nipples off out here.” The shorter woman shook out her extremities to get the blood flowing again as she pulled the back door open, gesturing for Pearl to go inside ahead of her. The blonde smiled thankfully and stepped back into the wall of heat that was the bar. Amethyst’s eyes immediately searched for Garnet’s and she spotted the taller woman leaning against the bar counter beside Rose, whose entire body was turned away from Greg and toward the bassist. 

Pearl heard Rose’s tinkling laugh from across the room and her gaze followed Amethyst’s. The drummer tilted her head to the side as she watched the pair interact– Garnet’s easy smile and seemingly relaxed demeanor beside Rose’s enthralled gaze and melodic amusement. Maybe that was just the kind of effect Garnet had on people. She’d known her for years, but she never noticed until she craved Garnet’s charm for herself only. Thinking back on it, the dark skinned woman always did have a way with people. Having the pieces all fall in place before her eyes left Amethyst making a quiet noise of enlightenment, “Huh.” that drew Pearl’s attention. 

“What?” 

“Just...watching Garnet.” Amethyst admitted without shifting her eyes.

Pearl looked down at her with a knowing smile. 

“Why aren't you two dating?”

That got Amethyst's attention. 

Her dark eyes shot up toward Pearl with raised eyebrows and a hint of red tinting her round cheeks before she returned her gaze toward the bar.

“Heh, well, uh… It’s kind of complicated, really–”

Rose seemed to have bought Garnet a drink, which wouldn't have rang any alarms had the bassist not  _ accepted  _ it.

“ _ Garnet! _ ” Amethyst shouted, her previous sentence forgotten as she stood staring wide eyed at her best friend. Garnet nearly dropped the glass in her hand; thankfully she regained her grip on it, but not without a good portion of the dark liquid sloshing over the rim and onto the already sticky floor. Amethyst was no stranger to a good time, never mind that she wasn't of age. When you're one year off of being legal and the bar owner has known you since you were seventeen, sometimes you can get people to look the other way when your I.D. says you aren't twenty-one. 

That perk was for Amethyst, though, because Garnet  _ hated _ alcohol.

But she only made an exception when things were “getting bad” again.

The mixed look of shame and anger that Amethyst could make out in Garnet’s body language drove her legs forward until she was standing in front of the darker woman, Pearl momentarily forgotten.

Pearl watched them speak to each other with bated breath. She watched Rose hastily apologize and Greg glance up when he realized something was wrong. She watched Amethyst slowly coax the glass from Garnet’s shaky fingers, and Rose took it from the drummer’s hands without question. The two roommates stood facing each other, Garnet’s slim hands encased in both of Amethyst’s thicker ones as the shorter woman looked up into Garnet’s shaded eyes with a look Pearl had never been on the receiving end of before. The amount of love and compassion that was just conveyed in a glance made her chest flutter. Eventually, Garnet nodded at something that Amethyst asked and the Afro-Latina pulled her into a massive hug. Slowly, carefully, Garnet’s arms lifted to wrap around Amethyst’s waist. 

Pearl watched it all, and then wondered if anyone would ever watch her the way she admired the two of them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for all the comments left on the last chapter! Each one is truly great to read and I'm endlessly happy at the positive response this fic is getting.
> 
> Come talk to me at bakedgarnet.tumblr.com


	4. Joyride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They all play Never Have I Ever.  
> Pearl comes to a realization.

Leaving the bar with the two women who wouldn't leave her thoughts in days seemed like a good idea at the time. Rose and Greg started getting handsy with each other after Garnet was stolen from the spotlight of Rose's attention, and Pearl couldn't bear a ride back in Greg’s van while the two of them made her drive so they could fool around in the back. Pearl loved Rose more than anything, but even she had her limits. 

Staying with Rose while she visited Chicago was great at first, but then she found out that her pink haired ex girlfriend had gotten a boyfriend while Pearl was moved back in with her parents. Staying at what used to be her and Rose’s house had hastily turned into staying at  _ Greg _ and Rose’s house and Pearl was  _ tired.  _ So instead of subjecting herself to another night of that, here she was in Amethyst and Garnet’s car, driving through the slick city streets. Amethyst gasped so loud that both Pearl and Garnet looked up from wherever their gazes had idly landed and looked at her. The drummer’s hand shot out and turned down the volume of the rap song blaring through the speakers.

“Guys! Let’s go to Chipotle!” Amethyst squirmed in her seat as she gripped tighter onto the steering wheel in excitement. Garnet reached up to slide her glasses off of her face and set them securely atop her lion’s mane of kinky hair. Her mismatched eyes studied her roommate for a second before turning her head to look back at Pearl. The thin woman straightened up at her gaze.

“Is that fine with you, Pearl?” She asked.

The blonde nodded quickly with a small smile, happy that Garnet didn't seem to be angry about her earlier foot-in-mouth moment. The bassist's eyes were kind when they had turned to her, and the feeling of the grip around her lungs melting away at the sight was a pleasant one. Garnet turned around to face forward in her spot and idly brought her left arm up to rest across the back of the driver’s seat. 

“Chipotle it is.” Garnet declared and Amethyst let out a loud  _ whoop,  _ pure and joyful. 

Thankfully, they had missed rush hour traffic, so the streets were nicely devoid of other cars. Amethyst cranked the volume back up and seamlessly slid back into the rap verse with an energy that Pearl found endearing. She could see Garnet’s lips curl up at the edges from where she sat behind Amethyst’s seat, and she tried to inconspicuously admire the dark skinned woman sitting diagonal from her. 

Feeling Pearl’s gaze on the side of her face, Garnet turned her head and met Pearl’s eyes again, noting the burning tint to her cheeks even in the dim streetlights illuminating the car every few seconds. The bassist winked at her, flashing the top row of her teeth in a chest seizing, lopsided smile.

Pearl was still trying to recover her breath far after Garnet had turned back around and even after they had pulled into the parking lot.

* * *

Seated at a table for four, the last chair filled with Pearl’s purse, Amethyst's backpack, and all of their coats, the three women enjoyed the quiet of the room. It was fairly close to closing time, they had about thirty minutes, and there were two other straggling customers sitting on opposite ends of the room alone with their burrito bowls and tacos. Amethyst was attempting to fit half of an entire flour shell chicken taco into her mouth when she rolled her eyes at the air.

“This isn't even authentic Mexican food.” She grumbled through a stuffed mouth. Most of her sentence came out muffled and so the other two women leaned in closer as if that would help them hear her any better. Garnet reached across the table toward Amethyst and wiped a stray glob of sour cream from the corner of her mouth. Pearl giggled behind her hand from Garnet’s right side when Amethyst grumbled even louder and swatted Garnet’s hand away with zero success. 

Eventually the bassist got the offending condiment off of her roommate's face, much to Amethyst's displeasure. Finally gulping down the massive bite– seriously, did she even chew it all the way?– Amethyst repeated her earlier sentence as Garnet wiped her fingers off with the restaurant’s logo-labeled napkins. Pearl quirked an eyebrow at her critique and tilted her head to the side. 

Garnet found it cute. 

“But we just watched you shovel three of the six tacos you ordered into your mouth for the past five minutes.” The light skinned woman stated with confusion lacing her tone. Amethyst shot her fist up to her mouth as she hiccuped, having eaten far too fast. She took a generous gulp of her grape soda and set it back down on the table with a satisfied smile. 

“ _ Yeah… _ Only ‘cause it's just so  _ fucking good. _ ” Amethyst threw her head back in bliss with a lecherous moan that drew the attention of the staff and the two other customers there. Pearl’s hands shot up to come over her own mouth as if that would make Amethyst any more quiet. 

“Amethyst!” The blonde whisper shouted in mortification. Garnet let out the first laugh Pearl had heard from her all night. It was throaty and full and Pearl’s hands grew clammy in response. 

She wiped them against her shirt.

“C’mon, P! Don't act like you wouldn't make it clap for a torta.” Amethyst grinned with a seductive wag of her eyebrows. The drummer winked when Pearl’s mouth dropped open.

“Make  _ what _ clap?” The blonde questioned, flustered by Amethyst's raunchy personality. Garnet snorted to the side of her and Pearl noted her shoulders shaking in silent laughter. 

“And what is a torta?” The light skinned woman continued in utter bafflement. Was there some inside joke she was missing?

Amethyst unleashed a hearty guffaw and hastily clamped her hand over her mouth to stop any food from flying across the table. Tears blossomed in her eyes as she fought to hold back her laughter and Garnet’s arm absently slipped around the back of Pearl’s chair as she, too, tried to pull herself together. 

“Ah, man. Pearl, you're a riot.” Amethyst chuckled in the aftermath of her mirth. She looked at the blue eyed woman for a moment before gasping much as she had in the car. Garnet and Pearl turned to look at each other with wary gazes as Amethyst smacked both hands down on the table in response to an idea bubbling in her head.

“Let's play ‘never have I ever!’”

“Amethyst, they're closing in fifteen minutes.” Garnet reasoned, always hesitant to play these games with her in public. They tended to get very intense, very quickly, and she wasn't positive that Pearl's presence would change that. 

Pearl glanced between the two of them sheepishly. 

“I’ve never actually played before…” She trailed off at their stunned gazes before continuing with more confidence than she truly had.

“ _ But,  _ I  _ have _ watched people play it at parties!” 

Garnet attempted to hide her smile behind her long fingers.

She partially failed.

“So that settles it, we’re playing.” Amethyst declared around another obscene mouthful of chicken taco. She took a heavy swallow and licked her teeth before grinning at the two women across from her and holding up one hand with five chubby fingers.

“I’ll start. And don't worry, Garnet, I’ll go easy on you.” Amethyst smirked.

Garnet merely grumbled and held her free hand up as well. Pearl caught sight of her palm and nearly gasped. There was the most minimalistic, yet stunning, tattoo depicting the linework of what seemed to be a crystal. The one on the hand she had raised held a square in the center of it with varying triangular shapes making up the inside of the gem, and the entire thing was encased in a circle that took up the inside of her palm. 

Pearl’s awe was cut short when Amethyst began the game.

“Never have I ever…” The drummer trailed off as she considered her next words. Pearl glanced at Garnet nervously.

“...fallen for a straight girl.” Amethyst seemed to beam over her declaration, one that wouldn't blatantly sabotage her best friend’s footing in their little game considering that she knew her the best. To her surprise and utter amusement, Pearl guilty tucked her thumb into her palm. Amethyst cackled, her short legs kicking under the table while Garnet gazed upon their new friend with pity. The blonde pursed her lips and lifted her chin up in a joking display of pride. A smile played on her mouth.

“We can't all be as fortunate as you two.” 

Garnet snorted to her side and settled more comfortably in her seat, the hand around Pearl’s chair tapping its fingers against it rhythmically. 

“Never have I ever...” Garnet began, holding her silence for effect. Pearl and Amethyst locked wary gazes across the table.

“...passed out drunk and woken up in an unfamiliar place.” Garnet smirked, pleased with getting both of them at once. Amethyst might be going easy, but Garnet was playing to win. The curly haired girl groaned and dropped her thumb toward her palm as Pearl frowned and dropped her index finger next. 

“Oh, it's on.” Amethyst declared, causing Garnet to raise a taunting eyebrow in her direction. The drummer’s faux scandalized expression made Pearl giggle into her free hand, the warmth from Garnet’s arm practically around her shoulders making her feel more giddy than a few shots at the bar ever could. She realized it was her turn and bit her bottom lip as she considered her next words. She didn't miss Amethyst's brown eyes dropping down to her mouth.

Her stomach fluttered.

“Never have I ever been in a fight.” 

Garnet and Amethyst looked at each other with familiar smiles and chuckles on their lips as they each dropped a finger. Pearl glanced between the two of them, her eyebrows high.

“ _ Both  _ of you?” She asked.

Amethyst shrugged and smirked at Garnet before looking back at the blonde. 

“Garnet’s first fist fight was with me.” She cackled as the dark skinned woman leaned back in her chair, holding on to the back of Pearl’s for support. “Amethyst fights in underground boxing matches for cash, though.” Garnet interjected. Pearl could vaguely make out her large eyes behind her shades. 

“Tell her how you kicked my ass, G!” Amethyst laughed heartily while the bassist merely shook her head in amusement. 

“Maybe later. Your turn, Ame.” 

“Hm, let me think...” Amethyst pretended to ponder as she stared Garnet down. 

“Come on, then.” Garnet taunted, meeting Amethyst's challenging eyes through her shades.

“Never have I ever spoken more than two languages.” The curly haired woman grinned when Garnet dropped her index finger with a smack of her lips.

Pearl looked impressed when she turned toward her. 

“Really? How– which ones beside English?” 

Garnet shrugged modestly and adjusted her shades with the three fingers she still held up on her free hand.

“My mum spoke English, Spanish, French and Russian before she passed, she had to learn a lot of languages for her work, so I grew up learning them all. The foster homes I stayed in either spoke English, Spanish, or both. I’m out of practice with my Russian and French, though. There aren't many people around here to speak those with.” Pearl’s eyes were alight by the time Garnet finished talking and Amethyst felt a fluttering warmth in her stomach that wasn't anywhere close to jealousy. The kind of warmth you get when you share something special in your life with someone new. The warmth that comes when you can tell they appreciate it almost as much as you do. 

Amethyst smiled.

She was on the verge of telling Garnet it was her turn to go when one of the employees standing behind the counter called over to them.

“Hey, we’re closing up! We gotta ask you to leave.” The three women nodded in acknowledgement and began gathering their things, ambling over to dump their garbage or bag the food they hadn't finished. Once settled in the car, Amethyst turned in the driver’s seat to face Pearl, who sat behind her.

“You comin’ home with us, P?” Pearl’s blue eyes widened in surprise and she glanced between the two women in front of her with concealed hope. “If it's not– I mean if it's okay with you two. I’d hate to impose…” Garnet chuckled and lifted her shades from her eyes in the comfort of the dark car. 

“You won ‘Never Have I Ever,’ I think you've earned our company.” She joked, sending a kind hearted smile to the back seat where Pearl blushed. 

“Okay then. Yes, I’ll go home with you two.” The blonde smiled and sat back comfortably as Amethyst started up the old car, and the sounds of its rickety engine had never felt more soothing.

* * *

Garnet could tell Pearl was flustered.

The dark skinned woman hadn't thought anything of walking around in an oversized sweater and her underwear. She hated wearing pants; most of the time they either flooded because of her height or fit her thighs all wrong and, honestly, it was so much more comfortable to only wear them when she absolutely had to– like when she was in public. 

Except she wasn't in public, she was at home, and Pearl just happened to also be there, completely incapable of taking her eyes off of her legs.

Not that Garnet particularly wanted her to.

Amethyst sat cross-legged on the couch, thumbs moving furiously as she played some fighting game on their used X-Box, and both Pearl and Garnet sat to the right of her as she yelled obscenities and snarled when her character was hit. Garnet’s legs were crossed in front of her, the leg on top bouncing to an unheard beat. She was watching Pearl talk, her hands moving animatedly alongside her words, eyes and mouth just as expressive. 

Garnet’s elbow rested on the back of the couch and her cheek pressed against her fist as she gave Pearl her undivided attention. Somehow they had ended up talking about a TV show they were both obsessed with, a crime drama called  _ Deception,  _ and the strawberry blonde was in the midst of a rant about the awful character development of one of her favorite characters while Garnet listened in quiet amusement.

“–and then they had the audacity to just kill her off, as if the rest of them hadn't been hurt by much worse and survived. Austin was kidnapped, tortured and stabbed heaven’s sake! They had to resuscitate him at the hospital and he's fine to this very episode!” Pearl groaned in exasperation and dragged a hand down her face with a shy smile once she realized she was yelling. 

Garnet was grinning at her.

“Sorry, I just– I’m really emotionally invested in these characters. It’s silly, I know, it's just a television sh–”

“Pearl, don't apologize.” Garnet chuckled, her shades off in the dimmed lighting of the room. 

“It's cute.” She smiled, her mismatched eyes watching Pearl intently. 

“Yeah, Pearly. Don't worry about it. Just let it all out.” Amethyst added on coolly, just before punctuating her statement with, “Son of a mother  _ fucker _ !” when her character died. Pearl was giggling behind her hand when she realized that she was sandwiched between the two of them. The side of Garnet’s hip and thigh pressed against her own, and her opposite leg was beneath Amethyst’s folded knee. She felt the heat that never quite seemed to leave her cheeks at their apartment return in all of its forcefulness and there was a question itching it's way up her throat before she could stop it. 

“Did you two resolve– that argument you had last time I was here– did you work it out?” 

Amethyst paused the new battle she had started and turned to look at her with a softness she would have never anticipated from the shorter woman. Garnet’s hand landed on her knee and the overload from both of these women almost short circuited her brain. 

“We did.” The bassist answered, drawing Pearl’s gaze in her direction. 

“A couple days ago, actually.” 

The light skinned woman smiled, pleased, before Amethyst spoke.

“Not that it's any of your  _ business,  _ but _ …”  _ Amethyst teased, and bumped her shoulder against Pearl’s to reassure her it was a joke. The blonde laughed breathily with nerves.

“We decided to be in an open relationship. Pretty much how things were before, but with defined lines and shit, no more jealousy, all that good stuff. I'm still working on that jealousy part...” The curly haired girl grinned and laughed guiltily before unpausing her game, unleashing the sounds of swords clashing and pained grunts into the tiny living room. Garnet’s hand on Pearl’s knee squeezed and shot a jolt of warmth through her entire body.

“Sorry you had to hear us argue. I’m sure that's the last thing anyone wants to wake up to.” Garnet's brown and blue eyes found hers and they were so sincere and open that it knocked the breath from Pearl’s lungs. There was a realization scraping its way to the surface and she was doing everything in her power to force it back down.

A brief flashback of earlier in the night, standing in the freezing cold with Amethyst to her side, comforting her before she could even truly settle into the pit of self-deprecation she tended to dig for herself. The image of that same girl now, hair still damp from her shower and a few of her S-shaped curls sticking to the side of her face, tongue poked out just slightly as she stared at the screen in pure concentration… 

No– no there was absolutely no way that–

Not after she had just moved on from Rose. Not after she forced herself to move out of Rose’s house despite her best friend’s claim that they could still live side by side even after their messy break up. Not after she was forced to go back home to Michigan and move in with her parents until she could regroup. Not after she had just patched up what was left of her heart. 

She  _ couldn't  _ like both Garnet and Amethyst– which was what made it ten times harder to accept that she did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I'd love to hear your thoughts and answer any questions. Talk to me here or at bakedgarnet.tumblr.com


	5. Senses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A night of almosts, stories and cuddling.

The night continued much the same– Garnet and Pearl immersed in a constant flow of conversation while Amethyst played through her favorite video game and interjected periodically throughout their discussions. The floor was warm beneath Garnet’s foot, but freezing anywhere else, and she eventually moved her legs up to curl beneath her on the couch, elbow still propped up on the back of the furniture, but her hand rested around Pearl’s section in the middle of the love seat instead of supporting her own cheek. Garnet noticed the blonde’s mind wandering often throughout their conversations, blue eyes drifting down her body sometimes and the her girlfriend's others. The faint pink tint to her cheeks never seemed to fully dissipate before it flared up again and eventually Garnet couldn't bite her tongue anymore.

“You alright?” The dark skinned woman questioned, her different colored eyes shifting between both of Pearl’s with concern. Azure blue eyes shot wide open at the question, and Garnet was worried Pearl might flee at any moment. The blonde let out a shaky laugh, breathy and nervous, and squeezed her thin fingers together in the safety of her lap before she could meet Garnet’s questioning eyes.

“Why wouldn't I be?” She countered, forcing a smile that Garnet saw right through. Fighting noises highlighted the living space for a moment when none of them spoke. Garnet was flicking her mismatched gaze between Pearl’s large, nervous eyes in a way that reminded Pearl so much of a lioness assessing her prey and Amethyst was staring at the game so intently, neither of them could tell if she was even listening. 

“Wait, it just got quiet. Why’d you guys stop talking?” Amethyst asked distractedly, her entire upper body moving with the strength of her willing her fighter to win. 

Pearl opened her mouth, but words failed her and so Garnet finally shifted her gaze onto her girlfriend. 

“Pearl’s not relaxed around us once since we’ve met her and I want to know why.” The tall woman’s accented voice filled the room as easily the video game’s soundtrack and Pearl felt her stomach drop upon realizing that Garnet was much more observant than she initially thought. 

Amethyst’s thumbs flew around the controller for a few more seconds before she finally paused the game and leaned back into the cushion with a  _ huff _ . Her deep brown eyes turned onto the light skinned woman, searching her face with scrunched eyebrows as she sat the game controller into her lap. 

The dim lights didn't do the pink in her hair justice. 

Her pupils were either as blown as they were from the darkness or something else. Her hands gripped each other like lifelines in her lap, shoulders subconsciously tensed, and Amethyst had watched her nervously chew at the inside of her bottom lip every time she glanced over since they've sat down. She hadn’t missed the blonde’s bouncing leg, another obvious sign of nerves or pent up anxiousness. After her brief observation, she picked up on all the things that Garnet had also noticed throughout the night. She morbidly thought that if there was one thing she was grateful for about emotionally or physically abusive foster homes– learning to quickly read body language as a result was a skill that saved their asses more than once. She mentally shook the thought out of her mind and moved her gaze back to Garnet's. 

“I noticed.” 

She turned her body to face Pearl’s completely, back pressed against the arm of the loveseat and her legs folded in front of her body as her hands casually rested on Pearl’s thigh. Amethyst observed the way her throat bobbed around a heavy swallow in response.

She smirked. 

Leaning forward ever so slightly, thick eyebrows quirked in question and her dark eyes glinting with something Pearl craved deep in her bones, she asked, “Do we make you nervous?” 

Pearl thought maybe looking at Garnet instead would give her poor lungs a break to possibly answer their questions, but Stars was she wrong. The bassist's expressive, dual-colored gaze was piercing without her shades closing her off from the outside world. Her full lips were slightly parted as she watched Pearl carefully. The arm resting behind Pearl seemed to be radiating heat, but maybe that was just the blonde’s own body overheating and  _ why _ couldn't she take her eyes away when Garnet wet her lips–

Pearl shot up from the couch with a laugh that bordered on hysterical and excused herself to the bathroom, hands pressing against the sides of the thighs as she went. Garnet and Amethyst locked gazes as they heard the bathroom door close in their bedroom, eyebrows high and lips quirked in amusement. 

“You were right, G.” Amethyst laughed in delight and her entire body shook with the force of it. Garnet grinned with a half shrug.

“When aren't I?” 

The two referenced a brief discussion they'd had in their bedroom as soon as the three of them had gotten inside. 

* * *

_ Pearl was making herself comfortable on the couch as they both went to shower and change out of their day clothes. Standing together under the shower head, As Garnet’s dexterous fingers massaged Amethyst's scalp with her dessert smelling shampoo, she idly made a comment that stopped Amethyst's content humming in its tracks. _

_ “Pearl likes both of us.”  _

_ The drummer’s eyebrows scrunched together, eyes closed tight lest shampoo decide to maneuver past her full eyelashes. _

_ “What? No way.” She laughed, shrugging off the suggestion. Garnet’s steady hands turned her body around until she was standing beneath the shower head, and the shampoo suds glided down Amethyst's smooth skin until they reached the drain. It wasn't until her hair was shampoo free that Garnet spoke again. _

_Amethyst wrung out her curls._

_ “You read people just as well as I do. You really haven't noticed, or are you purposely ignoring it?”  _

_ Amethyst looked up at that, studying her best friend-turned-girlfriend. After a moment, she huffed in defeat and turned to shut the water off. As they both stepped out from behind the off-white curtain, she spoke again.  _

_ “Yeah, I noticed. I just didn't want to get my hopes up in case she really only wants you…” Amethyst admitted quietly. Suddenly, Garnet’s hand was feather soft against her cheek, her touch as gentle as always. Dark brown eyes met mismatched ones several inches higher.  _

_ “How do you feel about her?” Garnet asked simply. _

_ “I dunno– it's– it's all physical now ‘cause I don't know her that well, but from what I  _ have  _ seen I think over time it could be romantic, too.” Amethyst said before breaking their gaze with a small laugh. _

_ “She seems like your type.” _

_ Garnet quirked an eyebrow in amusement. _

_ “Funny. I thought she was more both of ours.”  _

_ Amethyst laughed again, fuller this time, and leaned up to peck Garnet on the lips before pulling away to grab their towels. _

* * *

“Should we go make sure she’s not, like, dying or something? I’ve never seen a person’s face so red.” Amethyst joked through her laughter, small hands clutching the front of her sleep shirt. Garnet waved off the suggestion, reclining further back into the love seat comfortably. Her legs shifted until they rested across Amethyst’s folded ones and the curly haired girl instinctively began massaging her impressive calf muscles.

“Give her a moment. She’ll come back when she’s ready.” Garnet responded lowly, her voice taking on a tone of utter relaxation at the feeling of Amethyst’s hands on her legs. They waited in comfortable silence― interrupted only by the intense pause-music of Amethyst’s fighting game, then the faint wailing of a police car many blocks away. 

They had long since been able to merely  _ exist _ in each other’s presence without the fluff of words. Unspoken communication that was iterated by a glance or a touch was enough to throw most people unfamiliar with the two off. So it was only fair that Pearl was struck with bafflement when she returned to see the two women engaged in languid staring as Amethyst’s hands traced soothing touches into Garnet’s calfs. She thought maybe they didn’t hear her enter and moved to make a noise― any noise― when Garnet spoke, her eyes not leaving the dark ones across from her until halfway through her sentence.  

“We’d apologize...but I can't say that we’re sorry.” She confessed with a teasing grin as she met Pearl’s fixated blue eyes. Amethyst turned her head at an awkward angle to see Pearl as well, flashing her a cheeky grin and wink that caused the blonde’s eyebrows to shoot toward her hairline. 

“Wh– I don't know what you mea–” Pearl laughed breathily as she worked to deny what the two were implying. Believing what she wanted them to be saying was setting her up for too much disappointment if she was wrong.

“Yes you do.” Garnet cut her off simply, her voice soothing despite Pearl’s erratically beating heart. 

“And it's cool, Pierogi. Promise.” Amethyst interjected with a genuine smile in her direction. Pearl felt her stomach drop to her toes in a rush of glee that caught her entirely off guard. 

No– Impossible–

“We like you, too.” Garnet stated bluntly, her cool demeanor perfectly contrasting the internal meltdown Pearl was in the midst of. 

“You–  _ Both _ of–?” She somehow got out through her short bursts of breath. Brows furrowing, Garnet wondered if Pearl really would pass out. She slowly brought her endless legs down from out of Amethyst's lap and stood up to cross the room, stopping right in front of wide blue eyes.

Garnet's slender fingers found Pearl’s, tangled up in a mess of digits in front of her abdomen. The two watched their contrasting hands intertwine before locking gazes once more. Pearl’s breathing was quickly coming easier the longer she stared into Garnet’s serene eyes. She couldn't tell how long it had been when she felt strong, warm arms snake around her waist and a face press between her shoulder blades. Amethyst's mouth grazed the base of her neck and she just about lost it. Her full lips pressed against the shell of Pearl’s ear and nipped at it playfully, a grin overtaking that same mouth when Pearl let out a shaky gasp. Garnet pressed forward until her plump lips rested against Pearl's forehead.

“How did you know?” The blonde asked quietly, allowing herself to be bathed in the affection these two were sprinkling her with.

“Call it intuition.” Garnet replied, and Pearl felt the lips against her forehead curl into a smile.

“That, and it doesn't take a behavioral analyst to see how red you get around us, P. You damn near pass out everytime we look at you.” Amethyst snickered into her neck, the vibrations causing Pearl to laugh a bit herself until a shudder racked through her body in response to Garnet’s left hand moving to trace nonsensical shapes against her hip. 

“If this is the prize for–” A bite to her neck. A hitch of breath.

“–winning ‘Never Have I Ever,’ I think–” A kiss to her cheek. A blissful exhale.

“I think I should've played a long time ago.” Pearl murmured into Garnet’s neck. Suddenly she was facing the opposite direction, her back pressed enticingly into Garnet’s toned front while Amethyst rested her smaller hands over her stomach. Her thumbs massaged their way down to her hip bones and the drummer leaned up to press eager lips against her collarbone. Pearl leaned her head back on Garnet’s shoulder, tiny, delighted noises exiting from between her lips. The bassist’s mouth was at her ear in moments and Pearl didn't think she could take much more without imploding.

“Is this okay?” Garnet murmured into her ear, sending a jolt of electricity down her spine. 

Pearl could only nod, her breaths coming in short spurts accentuated by controlled deep inhales and shuddering exhales. Garnet chuckled against her skin and suckled at a sweet spot  _ right _ behind her ear and Pearl's moan  _ zinged _ through both women in front and back of her. 

Her outburst of excitement trailed off into one word she really wished she didn't have to say, “ _...Wait.” _ She panted, causing Garnet and Amethyst to stop their movements simultaneously. 

“What's the matter, P?” Amethyst asked, pulling back to look into blown pupils in the center of barely visible blue irises. 

“What are we–” she stopped to clear her throat, voice hoarse. “What is this?”

It was Garnet who answered that one, her lulling voice slightly further from Pearl’s ear than it was moments ago. 

“What do you want it to be?”

Pearl swallowed heavily, “I don't know… I need to think. I want this, but I– I’m not ready yet.” She admitted apologetically and, after a beat, both pairs of arms were encasing her in a hug.

“That's okay, Pearl. We’re here when you are.”

“Yeah, P. Don't worry about it.”

She wanted to release the largest sound of relief. Pearl was so worried that she had ruined this, that this was a one opportunity kind of moment, and they were so patient with her it almost made her tearful.

“D’you want us to drive you home?” Amethyst asked, looking up at her from two inches below her eye line. Blue eyes met understanding dark ones and the  _ emotion _ that fluttered deep in her chest had her shaking her head. 

“No, actually I was wondering– if it wouldn't be any trouble– could I stay here tonight?” She asked hopefully, turning in their arms until she could look at both of them. The disarming smiles on both of their faces were answer enough.

* * *

Amethyst couldn't help her grin at how Pearl practically drowned in her t-shirt as they all sat on the couple's bed. Her bare legs peeked out from beneath the deep violet band tee and crossed daintily over the maroon sheets, socked feet kept warm by her pristine off-white socks. They had moved their mini party into the bedroom almost an hour after their conversation in the middle of the living area, and so they sat in the center of the bed and somehow ended up cuddling each other.

Garnet’s folded legs created a resting space for Amethyst's torso while her head made itself comfortable against the bassist's bust. Pearl lay sideways with her head rested on Amethyst's pudgy belly, right hand absently playing with the drummer’s curls tickling her neck and cheek. Garnet’s long fingers scratched at the blonde’s scalp every once in awhile and Amethyst’s thumbs massaged her girlfriend’s free palm.

No one questioned this. No one questioned  _ them.  _

Everything felt so absolutely  _ right _ that it sent a jolt of fear through Garnet’s chest. 

The last time things had felt so whole, so completed, they had been ripped out from beneath her. She still hadn’t recovered. 

The trust issues she harbored as a result still haunted her, looming behind her every interaction with a snarling snout, waiting to snatch happiness from her before she could even appreciate it. Amethyst had been good with quelling this fear. Her constant presence was reassurance enough on most days, but then there were the times when she was gripped with paralyzing fear that she’d wake up one day, or mess up one day, and the shorter girl would just up and leave. 

Of course her natural defense against that fear was to draw back herself, distancing her heart from her now-girlfriend… but she couldn’t do that anymore. They promised each other that when they declared their relationship official. Thankfully, Amethyst was patient and could realize that it would take time for Garnet to fully stop emotionally withdrawing from things she feared would end up hurting her. 

She was trying, and that mattered the most. 

Amethyst noticed that Garnet was tensing beneath her and angled her head just so in an effort to try and make eye contact with the taller woman. The bassist’s mismatched eyes were trained at the air somewhere off to the side of the room, envisioning every antagonistic skeleton rattling in her closet. The dipped curve of her brows unknowingly sent something slow and sad through the air between them. Her smaller hands encasing Garnet’s free one slowed until they stopped, and Amethyst brought her tattooed palm to her lips, brushing the gentlest of kisses to the skin there and drawing Garnet from her terrified daze. 

She met the shorter girl’s eyes and the troubled look in her own dissipated, replaced with a warmth that encased her entire midsection. Within the brief seconds of their interaction, Pearl was oblivious, nearly lulled to sleep by the feather light touches in her hair. When the caresses stopped, her eyes fluttered open and she was met with the sight of the couple’s lips locked in a passionate kiss. The fluidity with which they melded into each other made it so terribly easy to tell that they had known each other for years. They kissed with a familiarity and a  _ flame _ that made Pearl feel intrusive for looking, and even still she couldn’t tear her eyes away. 

Her neck felt hot. 

Try as she might not to make a sound, lest she interrupt them, her throat was getting drier by the second and the subtle clearing of her throat that she managed still broke the two women apart with a soft noise that fluttered ever so softly until it settled in the pit of Pearl’s stomach. When they turned to look at her, she was shocked to see that they were sheepish. They were typically so unabashedly intimate with each other that the sudden modesty took her off guard. The smile that curved her lips upward was lovely enough that it took everything in Amethyst’s power not to lean down and kiss it off of her.

But Pearl needed time, and she would give that to her. 

Instead, she placed her hand beside Garnet’s in short, strawberry blonde hair and ruffled the typically pristine, silky locks beneath her fingertips. The mock-affronted gasp that rushed from between Pearl’s pretty lips made the two girlfriends grin simultaneously. 

The thought that Amethyst had gone from bitterly regarding the woman resting her head on her stomach at the bar to wanting to hear what other noises she could make with just the right  _ touch _ …

Well, needless to say, the shift in perspective was dizzying. She was proud of herself, though, for getting out of her compulsion for jealousy regarding Garnet so soon. Unexpectedly, it only left space for her to appreciate Pearl without resenting goggles hazing her vision, and what a lovely sight she was. 

Pearl’s melodic voice broke her thoughts with a sentence she was oh so eager to hear the response to.

“You never did tell me about your fist fight.” 

Grinning wickedly, Amethyst sent her eyes up toward Garnet just in time to see her bite her lip around a cocky smile. 

“We were, what, sixteen?” She asked Amethyst, seeking clarification. 

“It was a few nights after we’d run away, so yeah.”

Garnet continued, “Right, so it’s mid winter in  _ this _ fucking city of all places―”

“Wait, you  _ ran away _ ?” Pearl questioned, turning her body a bit so that she could push herself up on her elbow and look at the two fully.  “ _ At sixteen _ ?” 

Amethyst waved the shock off, shrugging as if it were trivial information.    
“We can tell that story later, P.” 

Garnet chuckled and shrugged her shoulders as she considered it.    
“Actually, the story would make more sense if we started closer to the beginning.” 

Amethyst groaned and dropped her head back against Garnet’s defined abdomen. 

“But that part’s  _ depressing _ , G. I doubt Pearl wants to hear about it.” She pouted, turning her head upward to bat her jealousy-invoking long eyelashes at her girlfriend. Garnet raised a neatly trimmed eyebrow at the girl in her lap.

“Don’t do that. It’s up to Pearl.” She declared with finality and Amethyst deflated against her once again.

Pearl laughed softly at the two of them, their endearing interactions making her feel more at ease than she ever would half naked with any other two women she only met a week ago.

“You don’t have to talk about that part. It’s okay.” She nodded.

“Alright, so like I said, we’re on the streets in below freezing temperatures. We've made it downtown of all places– much closer to the lake so, fuck us, it's already unbearable.” Garnet began, and Pearl felt a  _ thrumming  _ in her gut because this is quite possibly going to be the most Garnet has ever said around her since they’d met. Coupled with the fact that she was entirely at ease in her own home, she was getting to see a more genuine and playful side than the one displayed in public. It made her giddy.

Amethyst's eyes closed as she vividly remembered the story being told, looking heartwarmingly content in Garnet’s lap.

“We've not eaten in two days– correction,  _ I’ve _ not eaten in two days because Amethyst was far more hungry than I was the day before that and I’d given her my food for the day to eat. We’d stolen a ton of non perishable food from different corner stores on the south side and obviously rations are important when you're not sure when you can get more. So cut to the next day, I go to eat the last granola bar I have left and see that literally  _ all _ of the food in our bag is gone.” 

By that point, Amethyst's eyes were wide open and her head was craned up to watch Garnet as she hid her snickers behind her small hand. 

“So my first thought is that we’d been robbed in our sleep, and I’m  _ livid _ , like pacing up and down the viaduct we’re staying under, ready to punch a wall and suddenly, Amethyst goes, ‘It was me. I ate it.’” Garnet paused for effect, letting Pearl’s eyes get nice and wide in shock before she continued.

“And dude– Garnet  _ lost it _ .” Amethyst kicked her legs with the full bellied laugh that ripped through her and Pearl looked between the two of them in disbelief. 

“Damn right, I lost it. My vision goes red, I’m half mad with hunger and this asshole that I’ve looked after since I can remember ruining my chances of eating for who knows how long just sets me off. Now, Amethyst would you like to explain what  _ really _ happened to the food before I tell Pearl how swiftly I kicked your ass?” Garnet asked, mirth in her tone as she affectionately held Amethyst even closer.

“Yeah, okay so there was this family that came by while G was sleeping and I talked with them for a bit. They had been homeless for a few years and looked real worn out and hungry and we had only been on our own for a few days so I figured they needed the food more than we did. I mean, we were still able to get away with stealing from stores and stuff, but there was no way they'd be able to go in without having eyes on them. They were mad grateful for the gift and kept moving, but here's the thing. Garnet  _ never _ let it show that things affected her, and we had both been through so much over the years, but especially her, and it wasn't healthy for her to always be the strong one between the two of us, never acknowledging her pain. So I let her think it was me and sort of… encouraged her to be pissed at me. I wanted her to let out her emotions some way.” Amethyst finished and looked at Garnet to continue while Pearl looked between the two of them, hanging on every word.

“More like  _ antagonized _ me. At that point I’m seeing red, but hurting Amethyst never even entered my mind until she started taunting me, riling me up even further. And she knows me in and out by this point so she makes sure what she says will get a reaction out of me. Next thing I know–”

“ _ BAM! _ ” Amethyst yelled, jolting the other two women with her explosive sound effect. Garnet chuckled a bit, her chest rumbling against Amethyst's back with the sound.

“I tackle her to the ground, it's wet from melted snow and people trackin’ sludge through the viaduct and who knows what else–”

“And she just  _ wails _ on me. Thankfully I had been in my fair share of fights with other foster kids, so I was blocking and dodging pretty well, but  _ dude _ imagine my surprise when this girl, who used to be all skin and bones keep in mind, starts landing solid punches,” Amethyst cackled at the memory, unable to finish for the moment, and causes Garnet to tell the rest. 

“It didn't last long. Turned into me cryin’ and sobbin' for the first time in who knew how long and she just kinda lifted me off the ground and held me for a while. I remember her talking me through it, but it wasn't until after she’d told me what really happened to the food that I realized what she'd done. And I was pretty upset over it because the last thing I wanted to do was be tricked into hurtin’ her– and then she pulls out a breakfast bar from the waistband of her pants and hands it to me...and I had never wanted to throttle someone so soon after wanting to make sure they're never hurt again.” Garnet joked, a fond smile playing on her full lips at the memory. Pearl looked between the two of them with a look that could only be described as awe-infused horror as she absently shook her head.

“Amethyst... _ what  _ the hell ?” The blonde giggled through her shock, pressing her fingers against her forehead at the mental image of the two battling it out on a city street. 

“ _ Look _ , it seemed like a good idea at the time, okay!” The curly haired girl laughed, “I was only sixteen. My choices weren't always well thought out.”

Garnet hummed her quiet agreement and kissed the top of Amethyst's head, pressing her nose into vanilla smelling curls and reveling in the contact.

“Seems you both have come a long way.” Pearl commented, a content smile pulling at her lips as she turned her torso back around to resume her position against Amethyst's stomach. 

And there they stayed, idly talking until, slowly, one by one they drifted off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, let me know what you thought in a comment! The feedback I get is very fueling when it comes to writing faster. If you have any questions or want to talk about the fic (or just to me in general lol) come slide through bakedgarnet.tumblr.com


	6. Domestic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl opens up, Garnet's late for work, and Amethyst really likes Pearl.

The creeping chill brushing goosebumps up her toned legs woke Garnet from her otherwise deep, pleasant slumber. She grudgingly forced one eye open and blearily looked around their dark bedroom. Amethyst lay curled up into a tiny ball on Garnet’s usual side of the bed, nose buried deep into her girlfriend’s pillow. The sight curled Garnet’s lips up into a gentle smile before she noticed the absence of one more body that she foggily recalled had been pressed against her own in the night. Long legs swung over the end of the bed and her bare feet padded across the icy floor in search of their guest. Her fingers cautiously trailed across the furniture she passed until she spotted a faint light spilling from beneath her and Amethyst’s shared bathroom. Her knuckles were gentle against the door as she knocked once. Twice. Three times. A quiet sniffle drew her eyebrows together in concern and she slowly turned the doorknob before inching the barrier between them open. 

“Pearl?” Garnet whispered, hastily stepping into the pristine bathroom, courtesy of her own neatness, and closing the door behind her before the light could wake Amethyst. Pearl’s lithe body sat crumpled in the corner where the bathtub met the adjacent wall, looking so small and helpless that it felt like a fist gripped Garnet’s heart right where it lay in her chest. 

Wide blue eyes shot up as if she hadn’t even noticed the taller woman enter, and she scrambled to stand up, pawing at the tear tracks under her eyes. Garnet hushed her softly and motioned for her to stay where she was while she lowered herself down to the floor herself. The tile was icy against her thighs. The sudden change in lighting from the bedroom only illuminated by streetlights outside to the brightly lit bathroom sent a dull thud through Garnet’s head without her shades, but she shook it off and tried her best to focus on the frail figure beside her. 

Her long fingers found Pearl’s dainty ones and held them both in her tattooed hands. Discarded tears dampened the tips. 

“Talk to me.” Garnet coaxed, her voice a low, soothing hum against the headache thrumming behind Pearl’s eyes as a result of her crying. Instinctively, she moved closer to the source until her ear was pressed against Garnet’s sweater-covered chest. Her head shook ever so slightly as she allowed her cold fingers to be warmed by the bassist’s tender touch. The material of the taller woman's sweater brushed against her cheek like a warm caress. Garnet hummed quietly in acknowledgement and eventually asked, “Would you like me to talk to you instead?” The prospect quelled the twisting in Pearl’s stomach and she nodded a bit more enthusiastically than her earlier response. Garnet’s small breaths through her nose fluttered the strawberry blonde wisps of hair against the lighter woman’s cheek.

“Alright, then. I woke up ‘cause I got cold when you left. I didn’t get under the covers because at some point your legs got tangled with mine and if I moved I wasn’t sure if we’d get that comfortable again.” Garnet paused, the smile in her voice evident. “You also just looked so peaceful while you slept, I couldn't bring myself to take the chance of waking you.” Pearl nuzzled her cheek further into Garnet’s chest. At the movement, one of Garnet’s hands left hers and wrapped around her waist to pull her until she practically sat in her lap. That same hand moved across Pearl’s stomach to resume its holding of her chilly hands before she spoke again. Pearl’s breath evened out considerably. 

“I know we've only just met recently… and the few times we’ve really talked weren't always the most comfortable…” Garnet searched for the words to say to this woman curled so trustingly into her embrace. Talking about emotional matters always made her uncomfortable, but she tried anyway. 

For Pearl, hell, and indirectly for Amethyst.

“But you can come to me for anything. Don't ever think you're a nuisance or that it's too trivial to talk about. If it's important to you, it's important to me, too.” Garnet murmured soothingly into the small bathroom, the vibrations from her chest seeming to lull Pearl into a sense of serenity much different than the emotional state that Garnet found her in. After a long moment of silence filled by the back of Garnet’s knuckles brushing relaxing patterns against Pearl’s stomach through her borrowed shirt, the blonde spoke suddenly. 

“My mom wants me to come home for thanksgiving.” Pearl murmured, and once the words came out of her mouth she felt terribly idiotic for complaining about the issue to a woman who had lost both of own her mothers far too soon. She lurched away and covered her face in shame, a sharp, mirthless laugh forcing its way through her lips. 

“God, how stupid of me.” She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes to stave off the pricking of fresh tears. 

“I’m whining about having to see my shitty family when I should be grateful to have one.” 

A strange look passed Garnet’s face at that before she slowly reached up to pull Pearl’s hands from her face. Mismatched eyes caught puffy blue ones immediately.

“Just because there are people out here without families doesn't mean that you should be thankful for a damaging one.” 

Pearl’s shoulders drooped a bit at that and she sighed shakily, hesitantly shifting back into Garnet's waiting arms.

“Now, tell me why you don't want to visit them.” She murmured into Pearl’s hair.

It took a while for the smaller woman to speak, but when she did it all came out in a torrent of whispers.

“When my sisters and I were younger, our parents forced us into everything. Made us take up every sport, every style of dance, student counsel, the most rigorous AP classes, any and every extracurricular activity– they drove us insane with stress and this... constant fear that we would never please them all the way until my sophomore year of college. Then the stress of micromanaging their three daughters and making us compete with each other for success finally got to them, I guess. And I was...so  _ relieved _ when they started fighting because they stopped paying attention to us at all. I could finally be an adult and– God, and just  _ breathe _ . But I went back to stay with them a year ago after things… didn't go so well here, and it was like whatever life was in that house died with their marriage. It's stifling just walking through the door. No one talks to each other anymore, neither of them care what my sisters and I do, and at first it was liberating, but it's so hard to finally think for yourself when your parents have made themselves your brain for twenty years of your life– anyway I can't take being there anymore. It was why I left to stay with Rose for a while. I was looking for apartments here in the city so I could finally get my own place. Start over, I suppose.” Her last sentence was merely a breath against Garnet's body and the taller woman continued to hold her, silent as she assessed the information given to her. 

“Why aren't they getting a divorce? They sound miserable together.” 

Pearl let out a gentle snort in response, turning herself until her clothed back was against the freezing tile and her downy head rested against Garnet’s semi-bare thighs. Stars, the woman was like a furnace. Garnet adjusted her hands so that one lay by her side while the other traced her thumb up and down the gentle curve of Pearl’s jaw. She studied the large, troubled blue eyes that seemed to caress every inch of her face with a mere look.

“They don't believe in divorce. My family’s Catholic.” 

Garnet hummed in thought, her warm, patient eyes never leaving the blue ones in her lap. Suddenly, Pearl spoke again.

“I can see why you and Amethyst just gaze at each other now.” She breathed, the corners of her pink lips tilting upward shyly.

“You feel it, too?” Garnet asked, the feather light hand against her face trailing down olive skin, then the deep violet cotton shirt, until she reached the flat plane of her surprisingly toned stomach hiding beneath the material. At their destination, her long fingers splayed and pressed ever so slightly against the exact spot that had been bursting with warmth ever since their eyes met.

“Right here?”

Pearl’s mouth was dry when she nodded in agreement. 

Garnet’s full lips quirked alluringly, and slowly, so painstakingly slow, Pearl leaned upward, her forearm bracing itself on Garnet’s warm thighs. She rationalized that she was giving Garnet time to move away if she wanted to, but mostly she realized she was giving herself time to really think this decision through. Every nerve ending of her body craved what she was about to do next, especially when Garnet’s pink tongue darted out to dampen her enticing lips. They were close enough to taste each other’s uneven breaths, lips brushing once. Twice. Three times.

Pearl shot forward to fully close the distance with a need that tore through her entire being. The rush of air that exited through Garnet’s nose and the near silent whine in the back of her throat that went with it drove Pearl mad. Their lips moved together furiously for a long moment until their frantic kissing slowed to languid caresses of their lips. Garnet’s tongue prodded for entrance into Pearl’s eager mouth and it was granted instantly. The gentle sounds of their kissing were the only noises in the small bathroom. 

Pearl shifted until she was sat more firmly in Garnet’s lap, and long, strong fingers moved to grip her hips and secure her place. Light hands caressed Garnet’s warm neck, feeling her pulse fluttering beneath her palm until her fingers buried themselves in the mass of kinky curls atop her head. She felt Garnet’s hot hands slide up to grip the small of her back and Pearl shifted once more to place her leg on the other side of Garnet’s shapely hips, effectively straddling her. The bassist broke away with a ragged breath, pressing their foreheads together and continuing their earlier gazing. Pearl's eyes fluttered open slowly, once again captivated by the beauty that was this woman's dual-colored irises.

Pearl wondered if her pupils were as blown as Garnet's were. 

Garnet wondered the same in reverse.

Gentle hands moved from Pearl’s back to hold her small thighs in each, thumbs brushing over the soft skin they found.

“I thought you wanted to wait.” She breathed against Pearl’s parted lips, the owner of which bit one side of her bottom one in response. Garnet leaned forward and ever so slowly tugged Pearl’s bottom lip from between her teeth with her own. The action sent a shiver of want down the blonde’s spine.

“I– I did…” Pearl tried to speak but it was so  _ hard _ when she was so breathtakingly close to this stunning woman.

“I do… But I’m having a hard time remembering why.” She breathed a laugh that tickled Garnet’s face. The taller woman's full lips drew into an amused grin and she continued to massage Pearl’s thighs with her thumbs. 

“Then I’ll make the call on this one. We’ll wait until you're ready.” 

The words were saddening in Pearl’s ears, but she knew it was for the best. Garnet was being the responsible one, as was normal from what she had observed. It was appreciated.

The rest of the night found them silently slipping back into the comfort of Garnet and Amethyst's bed. Garnet lay on her side, Pearl gently nestled against her front while simultaneously coaxing Amethyst from her fetal position to be the second little spoon. The sleeping woman complied with some incoherent grumbling, but snuggled into the combined warmth of both Pearl and Garnet’s embrace all the same. Her girlfriend wrapped her long arms around the both of them, tattooed hands ending up resting on Amethyst's soft stomach while her nose buried itself into Pearl’s wispy hair. 

Garnet hadn't slept so well in months.

* * *

Garnet hadn't been so late in months.

A string of mumbled profanities littered the air as she hopped around the small room in an attempt to get her jeans up past her curvy thighs and hips. Her beige polo work shirt fit snugly against her chest, and the restaurant’s emblem was displayed in a tiny spot on the upper right corner of it. Pearl’s lips pursed behind her delicate fingers as she valiantly staved off her giggles while Amethyst outright guffawed beside her. The laughing woman was met with a withering glare from dual colored eyes across the room before their owner dipped into the dark bathroom for several minutes before returning with damp hair, her kinky curls slightly stretched from the water. 

Pearl watched in amusement as she wrestled with the abundance of hair on her scalp and finally slicked it back into a massive puff atop her head with the help of a large brush and a durable hair tie. Garnet groaned in frustration as she looked around for her comfortable running shoes and hastily slipped them on her feet, breezing past the bed with her phone in one hand as she scooped up the car keys with the other. The pair still laying in bed bid Garnet a mirth filled farewell as the taller woman nearly ran to the front door to leave the apartment. The room was silent for only a moment before they heard a loud, “Oh,  _ fuck me _ !” and keys jingling in the door once more. Within seconds Garnet entered the bedroom again, and was holding back a scowl when Amethyst was waiting with her shades extended out to the bassist in her small hands, a knowing grin spread across her face. 

“ _ Don't.”  _ Garnet warned before Amethyst could say something smart. The short woman settled for a smirk instead. Seconds later, Garnet was gone once more and she and Pearl turned to look at each other before laughing a bit in amusement. Amethyst plopped back down into the sheets with a satisfied sound and turned her dark eyes up to meet Pearl’s. 

“What's your plan for today, Pierogi?” She asked around a contented yawn. The blonde chewed on her bottom lip for a moment in consideration, though truly there wasn't anything to consider. She had nowhere to be. 

“Ah, I should probably head back to Rose’s house… Spend some time with her.” Pearl said slowly, a strange look crossing her features at the idea. Amethyst raised an eyebrow in question, studying Pearl’s face for a long moment. Pearl looked away.

“Is that a bad thing?” Amethyst asked after a while, arms behind her head while she relaxed into the sheets. Pearl pondered the question silently, wringing her wiry fingers in front of her torso in hesitation. Her lips parted to speak, though no sound left her mouth at first. Eventually she gathered the words on her tongue and allowed them all to tumble out.

“Rose and I used to be– well, it was never really clear  _ what _ we were at the time and it's still a bit confusing for me now…” she trailed off.  “But we  _ were.  _ If that makes sense? Anyway, things didn't exactly work out and they ended. Badly.” A dark look crossed Pearl’s expressive, light eyes as she seemed to be reliving something Amethyst could only guess about.

“But she was willing to move past it. That's the kind of woman she is.” Pearl released a bittersweet chuckle. “Always willing to love her way through anything.” She murmured, almost as if to herself, and Amethyst frowned at the faraway look in her pale blue eyes. Pearl cleared her throat and forced a small smile anyway.

“Ah– as I was saying. I believe her new boyfriend has either moved into our– _ her _ – apartment or he's simply there enough that it seems that way. Regardless, it's really uncomfortable for me to be around them together.” Pearl finally admitted, turning her large eyes to Amethyst's observant ones with a nervous laugh living and dying on her lips. “To answer your question.”

Amethyst appraised her for a long moment, earthy brown eyes flickering between Pearl’s as they seemed to absorb every secret the blonde had carefully kept close. 

“Hang out here for a bit, then. If you're not ready to go.” Amethyst suggested with a slight shrug against the mattress. 

“If you're down with that, anyway. We could chill here or go visit Garnet at work later. Whatever you want.” 

Pearl’s lips parted as she considered the options, but honestly all she wanted to do was go back to sleep. Between waking up in the middle of the night and checking her phone only to find two missed calls and a faux-cheerful voicemail from her mother nearly demanding she come home for the holiday and crying in the bathroom, Pearl was spent. Several additional hours asleep buried between Garnet and Amethyst’s warm bodies, while criminally comfortable, was not enough. 

“I’d actually like to go back to sleep, if that's okay?” Pearl asked, a yawn breaking between her lips. Amethyst shot a warm, understanding smile at her and nodded, sitting up and sliding off the bed. 

“Welp, I’m starving so I’ll fix breakfast. I’ll make you something for when you wake up, okay?”

Pearl watched the shorter woman walk toward the door with a question on her lips that seemed to be searing them shut.

_ Will you lay with me? _

_ Will you lay with me? _

_ Will you lay– _

_ “ _ Pearl?” Amethyst called out for her attention, breaking the blue eyed woman from her daze.

Instead of asking, she let the question fizzle out on her tongue before nodding in agreement with Amethyst's plan. The brunette smiled and nodded once, her hand catching on the doorframe and swinging her body around and down the hallway with her momentum. 

“Nice dreams, P!” She called back after her guest. 

Pearl’s stomach performed somersaults.

She curled into the saddeningly empty bed and took comfort in the fact that she now could cuddle into two pillows that smelled like both of the women she was so enamored with.

She drifted to sleep easily.

 

Blue eyes fluttered open in response to a slight jostling in the room. They closed of their own accord, but then shot open again once Pearl’s mind registered the sight in the doorway. Amethyst stood, almost nervously, her eyes downcast and bottom lip between her teeth with a plastic tray of food held securely in her small hands. She seemed to have been contemplating the pros and cons of waking Pearl up from her sleep to give her breakfast. Luckily, the choice was made for her. The blonde slowly sat herself up, astonishment coloring her cheeks as she observed the act of kindness with a racing heart. 

“...Amethyst?” Pearl murmured softly, her voice still thick with sleep. Brown eyes seemed to spark to attention when she realized that Pearl was awake, a tint of red barely visible on Amethyst’s face. 

“Oh! Uh… Morning. Well, afternoon I guess. I wanted to wait a bit to start your breakfast ‘cause it tastes better when you don't have to microwave it… I didn't wanna wake you up though and I wasn't sure when you'd be awake so I kinda just…” The look on Pearl’s face made Amethyst’s rambling transform into a lost sentence. Her blue eyes were starry as they locked on Amethyst’s, and the smile that overtook her face sent an even deeper blush down Amethyst’s cheeks and neck. The only other person who ever looked at her like that, like she alone put the sun and stars in the sky, was Garnet. 

Amethyst shook herself out of her daze and took several stilted steps toward Pearl’s bedside, gently lowering the tray of food into her guest’s lap. Pearl’s eyes raked over the vanilla pancakes, sausage links and scrambled eggs with a growling stomach. Slices of strawberries and banana sat to the side of the pancakes, neatly decorating the plate. 

Blue eyes moved back up to meet uncharacteristically nervous brown ones and Pearl felt something warm flutter deep in her stomach, right where Garnet’s hand had pressed that night. Her words replayed in the back of her head as she stared into Amethyst’s eyes. 

_ You feel it, too? _

Yes, she did.

“You're wonderful.” The words were out of Pearl’s mouth before she could even register them, but the look of appreciation that shone on the drummer’s face told her that the unplanned compliment wasn't at all unwelcome.

“You're not too bad yourself.” Amethyst replied, a thick hand on the back of her warm neck when she grinned bashfully. She wished beyond anything that she could just pull herself together and talk to Pearl for a few minutes without wanting to bury her face into the ground. What changed? She had gone from being perfectly in her element around her to a complete pool of mush. Just looking at her soft eyes and the gentle curve of her jaw working as she chewed a forkful of her breakfast made her want to smile like some kind of dork. 

She realized she was just standing there, staring, when Pearl looked back up at her with a question building in her gaze. Releasing an anxious chuckle, Amethyst hastily threw up her index and middle finger in a peace sign before ducking out of the room with a bit more speed than what was necessary. Once outside of her and Garnet’s bedroom, she stood against the wall beside the door frame and released a heavy breath through her nose before walking back to the kitchen. Her mouth formed a grimace once she took in the chaos that was a direct result of her messy cooking. Her head hung defeatedly with a sigh.

“Garnet would kill me.” She murmured to herself, standing up straight and steeling herself to tackle the cooking catastrophe left in her own wake.

* * *

The next night found the trio borrowing Amethyst’s friend Vidalia’s garage for rehearsal. Darkness blanketed the city in an icy embrace and fat snowflakes drifted erratically in the sharp, infamous Chicago wind. The closed garage offered a halfhearted attempt at warmth, but the heater plugged into the extension cord running into the house faired much better. Pearl was bundled in her own sweater and coat, a particular anxiousness buzzing in her gut at getting to watch Garnet and Amethyst practice performing their music. She sat in one of the lawn chairs off to the side, her face buried up to her nose into the turtleneck of her stylishly oversized beige sweater while she fiddled with the zipper at the top of her thick, baby blue coat. Her wide eyes followed the two women while they worked to set up all of their equipment brought in from the trunk of their car. Eventually everything was plugged in and adjusted, Amethyst using Vidalia’s drum set instead of her own, for convenience, and then they were starting.

And they were  _ stunning _ .

Garnet and Amethyst faded into and out of each other so seamlessly between the bassist’s rapping and the drummer’s singing and that sweet, sweet spot in the middle where they synced in harmony with perfection. Goosebumps raised on Pearl’s covered arms as she listened to the two, listened to the lyrics and music of a song she hadn't heard from them before, and she wanted nothing more than to rush up and hug them both when they finished. The last notes rang in the air and settled into a deafening silence before Pearl erupted into single-person applause, standing from her seat in the lawn chair with a massive grin spread across her frost kissed reddened cheeks. Garnet and Amethyst both laughed bashfully and presented Pearl with unexpected kisses to either of her cheeks. She watched her breath float in the icy air at the shocked exhale she released. The two girlfriends laughed once more, this time more genuinely.

They quickly got back to rehearsing, giving each other minor critiques and testing them out verse by verse to see what sounded the best. They asked for Pearl’s opinion quite often and she beat back the perfectionist voice drilled into the back of her head by her parents that criticized everything she did. She would never let that voice taint two people she cared for so dearly, and so instead she just gave her input on which version she liked the best and otherwise kept her mouth shut, eyes starry and wide as she curled into the lawn chair to contain her body heat. The heater was doing a fine job of warming the garage up, Garnet and Amethyst had both removed their coats and continued playing as if the chill Pearl felt didn’t exist to them. She couldn’t blame the pair; it always took her longer to warm up than most. The rehearsal went pretty similarly for several hours until they wrapped up and took the equipment back down. Pearl gingerly touched her ringing ears and grimaced.

Garnet had been right about the ear plugs.

“Hey, Pearl, are we dropping you back at Rose’s after this?” Garnet threw over shoulder as she swung her bass guitar, in its case, across her back. Pearl stood from the chair and stepped around a stray pack of Vidalia’s canvases littering the garage floor. She fidgeted with the hem of her coat sleeve and cast her gaze off to the side.

“Uhm– Yes? I suppose so.” She answered awkwardly and suddenly Garnet’s shaded eyes were in front of her own. Pearl noticed that she always looked so frail reflected in those. She prayed that wasn't how Garnet saw her. 

“Amethyst told me a bit about why you don't really like staying there… You can come back with us if you'd like.” Garnet offered quietly, her gentle thumb rising to trace the curve of Pearl’s jaw as it was often so known to do. The pad of her thumb slowly found its way up to the lighter woman's cheekbone while Pearl considered her response. 

“I feel like I’m overstaying my welcome… I only just went back to Rose's yesterday afternoon and now to stay with you two again...” She finally admitted, casting her gaze aside. Garnet pressed a kiss to her forehead and pulled back to look at her, tilting her head until Pearl made eye contact, or as much as she could through the bassist’s shades. 

“You're always welcome at our place, Pearl. Do whatever makes you happy. You've got options.”

And it was that last statement alone that jolted Pearl into such a deep, disorienting  _ like _ for these two women. Growing up the way that she did, forced into every activity but the ones she enjoyed the most, being made to succeed at everything and getting ridiculed and placed below her sisters if she failed… to finally be told that she had  _ options _ by someone other than herself when she first began taking her life into her own unsure hands, other than Rose, whose options were always a bit too vast and scattered for Pearl to feel comfortable with… 

Needless to say, that was exactly what she needed to hear and exactly who she needed to hear it from. A giddy smile pushed its way to her lips, and before she could stop herself, her arms were flying around Garnet’s slim waist. The bassist’s toned abdomen pressed into her own when her nose buried itself into the crook of Garnet’s neck. She smelled of mangoes and shea butter and it was almost alarming how familiar that smell had gotten to be in such a short period of time. The taller woman’s sure arms wrapped around her, long fingers pressing tenderly into Pearl’s lower back and kneading the skin there before working their way up to the tense spot between her shoulder blades. 

The light skinned woman laughed a little into Garnet’s neck and murmured just loudly enough the other two to hear, “You and Amethyst make me happy.” she admitted with a  _ thrumming _ that made itself a toasty home in her chest. She heard Amethyst’s unexpected snicker from the other side of the garage and pulled slightly away from Garnet to crane her head up to look over the taller woman’s shoulder.

“So you wanna ‘ _ do _ ’ us?” Amethyst grinned, catching Pearl’s gaze over Garnet’s shoulder and waggling her eyebrows suggestively. The strawberry blonde released a sharp, nervous laugh that made her haste-induced stuttering that much harder to understand, and Garnet’s low chuckles vibrated against her chest while she pressed her long fingers against Pearl’s scalp and tried to soothe her. 

“Amethyst, you know she flusters easily. Leave her alone.” Garnet grinned above Pearl’s head. Amethyst’s grand laugh filled the room and Pearl was quite sure she didn’t want to be anywhere else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, let me know what you think in a comment and come talk to me or ask any questions here: bakedgarnet.tumblr.com
> 
> also, as cliche as it is, i made moodboards based on my AU version of garnet, amethyst and pearl (along with each of their theme songs for this fic) so feel free to check those out: 
> 
> garnet: http://bakedgarnet.tumblr.com/post/148706048011/show-me-love-character-moodboards-garnet
> 
> amethyst: http://bakedgarnet.tumblr.com/post/148706052021/show-me-love-character-moodboards-amethyst
> 
> pearl: http://bakedgarnet.tumblr.com/post/148706054496/show-me-love-character-moodboards-pearl


	7. Will You...?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Road trip to Michigan and a question.

Garnet and Amethyst could only watch as the weeks until Thanksgiving became fewer and fewer, directly correlating with Pearls growing apprehension. 

She chewed on the inside of her lips more, picked at the skin around her nails, and seemed to always be a million miles away when she was with Rose and, consequently, Greg. The only things, or people, that seemed to calm her were Garnet and Amethyst. She spent less and less time at Rose’s home and increasingly more time at Garnet and Amethyst’s apartment. They melded into each others lives so easily that it probably would have frightened Pearl had she not been so preoccupied with her impending family gathering. If she were able to step back and look at their growing relationship, the almost perfect intertwining of their everyday interactions, she would have been in awe of how beautiful it all really was. 

However, she could admire that later. 

Presently, she was pacing back and forth through the small living room, drawing amused stares from Garnet and Amethyst as her laptop went ignored. The cartoon show Amethyst enjoyed played unwatched from Pearl’s Netflix account as the couple’s gaze followed her from one side of the room to the other and back. Garnet could only watch as she made a mental checklist, mumbling under her breath everything she needed to pack and whether or not she had those things ready to go. When she reached something that she would have to pick up from the store, or go back to Rose’s to get, her eyes would shoot wide open and she would type with frightening speed into the notes app on her phone. Amethyst’s snickering finally reached her ears and her head perked up, snapping over to face the curly haired woman as her pace slowed just slightly and she slipped her phone into her back pocket.

“What? What’s funny?” Pearl questioned, eyebrows drawing together and upward at the middle in worry. 

Garnet chuckled as she reclined in the love seat, one arm thrown over the back of Amethyst’s spot on the couch. Her shades were off thanks to the dimness of the laptop screen and drawn curtains, and those mismatched eyes watched her like she was the most endearing person on Earth. 

“Dude, we can’t afford to fix any holes in the floor.” Amethyst laughed, trying to alleviate the tension that she could see locking Pearl’s typically fluid body into rigid movements. Pearl smiled guiltily and stood still, her white teeth worrying her bottom lip as her fingers wrung together at the base of her stomach.

Garnet smiled sympathetically and held her arms out for Pearl to step into. The blonde made the distance in one of her long legged strides and sank down into Garnet’s lap with an ease borne from practice. Amethyst turned her body until her head was resting on Garnet’s other thigh, right at the crease between it and her stomach. They sat in silence for a while, Pearl’s nose buried into Garnet’s warm neck as she ran long fingers soothingly up and down Pearl’s back. 

“Do you _have_ to go?” Amethyst asked finally, her dark eyes watching Pearl, tilting her head back and practically staring at the blonde upside down. A sigh left between pink lips as Pearl responded, dejection tainting her words. 

“If I didn’t have to be there, I wouldn’t be.”  Her words hung in the air for a long moment before she murmured so quietly the other two almost weren’t sure they heard her correctly. 

“I wish you would come with me.” 

Garnet’s strong arms tightened around her waist and her hands massaged soothing patterns into her lower back, a sad noise in the back of her throat. Amethyst stared up at her with her eyes squinted as though she were thinking heavily about something. Garnet glanced down and her trimmed brows slowly rose as she realized what her girlfriend was thinking.

“Amethyst, no.”

“But we could!” Amethyst exclaimed, sitting up abruptly. Her eyes were wide with juvenile excitement, the cartoon streaming from Pearl’s laptop long forgotten background noise to the wheels turning in her head. 

“P, would your parents be pissed if you brought two strangers over on Thanksgiving?” Amethyst asked the seemingly obvious question, only to receive an entirely unexpected response. 

“No, actually. They’ve been letting my sisters and I do pretty much whatever we want since their marriage went, you know…” Her hands formed a small exploding motion from where they rested on Garnet’s stomach before landing back on the toned, shirt covered flesh. With an inspired grin, Amethyst turned her large eyes onto Garnet, practically vibrating with anticipation.

“G, come on! We  _ so _ could go with Pearl. Do it for her.” Amethyst begged, leaning forward on her hands and knees until her full lips brushed against Garnet’s cheek before planting about five messy kisses in varying spots with repeated “Please’s” between each one. Pearl’s wide eyed gaze, sparked so suddenly with the possible turn of events, a light in them Garnet had rarely seen in weeks, paired with Amethyst’s enthusiastic displays of affection, was what pushed her over the edge. Her stoic face crumpled right alongside her resolve and she threw her head back with a massive sigh.

“ _ Fine _ , fine. We’ll go.” 

Amethyst let out a boisterous “ _ Yea-uh! Road trip!”  _ and lept from the couch to bound about on the hardwood living room floor, surely earning them complaints from their landlord at a later date. Pearl’s high pitched squeal seemed to reverberate off the walls as she threw her wiry arms around Garnet’s neck and hugged her tight, pressing grateful kisses to the side of her face. 

“Thank you, thank you,  _ thank you _ !” she exclaimed between kisses, and a chuckle bubbled its way up Garnet’s throat at the absolute pile of  _ goo _ these women could reduce her to. 

If only the scared, traumatized little girl she used to be could see her now.

* * *

The unusually warm afternoon before Thanksgiving approached them with the speed and stealth of a freight train. They were packed and almost set to leave, Pearl's car parked out front while she went over Garnet and Amethyst’s bags herself to ensure they had everything they needed. Amethyst watched her with a small smile on her face, and eventually she shook her head with a little laugh.

“I can't believe you had a whole car here this entire time.” She commented, mostly to herself. Pearl zipped up Garnet’s duffel bag, it apparently met her standards, and unzipped Amethyst's. As she idly checked for everything on her list– even the thought of being near her parents made her painfully anal retentive regardless of their current lowered standards for her behavior– Pearl spoke offhandedly, seeming to only be partially immersed in the words coming from her mouth.

“Well, you were driving every time we were together, and having to worry about my car  _ and  _ yours seemed excessive when it came to things like parking fees downtown and finding a space down here for one car, let alone two... not to mention car-pooling is proven to be less harmful to the environment...” She trailed off then, too deep into her task to continue talking.

Amethyst shrugged and nodded her agreement, turning her dark eyes to look up at Garnet, who was standing impossibly still with her fists clenched at her sides. Amethyst laid a grounding hand on her forearm and she looked down at the hand on her arm before blinking.

“Pearl.” 

“Hm?” She hummed distractedly, scrunching her nose up at the sheer disorganization of Amethyst's bag. Her compulsion to fold all of the clothes haphazardly stuffed into the duffel was winning out by a landslide.

“Pearl.” Garnet said, a bit more urgently than before. Pearl looked up, a pair of Amethyst’s stylish, self-ripped denim jeans hanging from her dainty hands while she folded them. 

“Yes?”

Garnet’s hands flexed at her sides in an unusual gesture of nervousness. 

“How are we introducing ourselves to your family?” She asked, driving Amethyst to voice her concerns as well. 

“Yeah, like we can't exactly tell them  _ how _ we met you, and what we are, or whatever, doesn't have, like, a name…” She elaborated, tugging the S-shaped curls of her hair straight and then releasing them to bounce back up toward her chest.

Pearl's mouth opened as if she had the answer before it slowly closed once more. She had no idea. Her lips pursed in consideration, already moving on to the next pair of wrinkled pants that was previously shoved into the dark green bag. Blue eyes flitted about as the wheels seemed to turn in her head before she perked up and looked at the two women standing over her.

“No need to lie… much, anyway, if anything it would be by slight omission. I’ll just say that you're good friends I met after your performance at Barb’s Bar. Nothing elaborate, and it’s still the truth.” She nodded to herself and made quick work of the remaining couple of shirts she later efficiently tucked into Amethyst’s duffel bag. Garnet’s arms moved to cross over her chest. 

“Friends. I take it we should hold back being affectionate with you, then, on this trip?” 

Pearl’s face fell and Amethyst huffed at the sight. She knew what that meant.

“Damn.” The curly haired girl frowned in disappointment. Pearl hastily zipped up the bag and got to her feet, pleadingly looking between both of them.

“I know how this sounds, and I’m not ashamed of what we have, whatever that may be, but the tension in that house is already unbearable– to come out to them  _ and _ introduce not one woman, but  _ two _ , would probably tear a hole in the universe.” She laughed weakly, her smile looking so similar to a pained grimace. While the thought of not being able to touch Pearl as she normally would left a strange pang in her chest, Garnet understood. She wished she didn't understand as well as she did. The dark thought was shaken from her head as she reached forward and intertwined one of her hands with Pearl’s. 

“We’ll just have to compensate for the lost time before and after, then.” She smiled reassuringly and watched as the relief practically melted the tension in Pearl’s body down to non-existence. Amethyst bounded forward and captured Pearl in a breath stealing bear hug, wrenching a choked laugh from her throat as she feebly hugged the shorter woman back.

“It’ll work out, P. We got you.” Amethyst reassured her, and Pearl had never felt so secure.

* * *

The six hour drive to Michigan was… exciting.

The car was filled with blasting music varying from alternative favorites, to rap, to pop, to old school hip hop and 90’s R&B hits while Pearl drove. Many of the current artists were underground, or Pearl simply hadn't heard of them, but the variation in Amethyst and Garnet’s music tastes were mind blowing. She didn't think anyone’s favorite styles could be so varied, yet there they were, singing or rapping every lyric flawlessly with enthusiasm and light-hearted grandiose that made her chest warm. And she loved all of it.

She made a mental note to ask them for their Spotify usernames when they got to her parents’ house.

Garnet sat sprawled out in the back of the silver car, one leg propped up across the entire back seat while the other hung off. Her head bobbed to the outro of one of her favorite songs while her fingers tapped out the beat on the side of the door. Her other hand moved up to push the abundance of stray, tight curls from her face. She and Pearl kept making eye contact in the rear view mirror, and the blonde continuously got more flustered at the sultry winks or looks Garnet would send her way for fun. Amethyst’s hand was interlaced with hers across the arm rest and she moved when drummer did, which was often considering how hyped she got for each new song that came on. Pearl’s other hand loosely gripped the steering wheel as she easily glided down the expressway and found herself humming along to the songs that vibrated through her car’s speakers. She didn't know the words, but she absolutely would rather hear Garnet and Amethyst harmonize any day, and so being made to listen was just a little bit better than joining in, she thought.

Pearl freed her hand from Amethyst’s to turn the volume down, instantly gaining the couple’s attention as a result. 

“Are you two hungry?” She asked over the wind loudly rushing through the windows. Her hair blew every which way in the onslaught of unseasonably warm air and, since knowing the two women in the car with her, she could admit that she cared much less than she would have before. Amethyst perked up and turned to look at her through the abundance of curly hair whipping across her cheeks and eyes. Her grin of excitement was heart-seizingly pretty, and Pearl flushed, looking back at the road. Before Amethyst could ask where she had in mind, Garnet was leaning forward with her hands on the shoulders of the passenger and driver seats, a faux-serious look in her uncovered eyes as she stared at Pearl through the rear view mirror.

“Take us to the food.”

Pearl’s melodious laugh flooded the car until the music took back over and she headed toward the nearest exit to feed the two unbelievable women she somehow had the pleasure of knowing by pure happenstance.  

Three out of six hours from Michigan, there wasn't much in the way of bustling civilization like at the heart of Chicago. 

They saw the stray pedestrian ever so often as they routed their way to the nearest restaurants by Pearl’s navigation app. Eventually they settled on a small, little known restaurant called Briar’s that had caught Garnet’s eye. The other two didn't have any better suggestions; the only other options were fast food places and Pearl couldn’t stomach the idea of fillers and fake burger patties– she hadn't even been inside of a McDonald’s in  _ years–  _ so Briar’s it was. Being seated took less than five minutes considering there were only approximately seven other people seated, four of which were together around one table, and so they had their choice of seats. Amethyst suggested a booth.

Pearl and Amethyst sat across from Garnet, who wore a faint smile on her face as she folded and unfolded the arms of her glasses. Dual colored eyes scanned the menu while the two women across from her chatted amongst themselves. She felt a buzzing anticipation form in the pit of her stomach as she selected her meal and couldn't keep the little smile off of her lips if her life depended on it. 

The three were midway into their meal when Garnet placed her fork down on the provided cloth napkin and looked up to catch Amethyst's brown eyed gaze. The drummer pursed her full lips to hide the massive grin threatening to break free and nodded twice.

Clearing her throat, Garnet shifted her eyes toward Pearl, who looked up at the sound with her brows raised in curiosity and the most adorable fluff to her cheeks as she chewed a mouthful of her garden burger. Garnet, with good foresight, waited until after she swallowed her food to start talking.

“Pearl, these past few weeks with you have seemed like months in the best ways possible.” She paused, gathering her thoughts as she so often had to do when it came to discussing things from the heart. 

“And I say that to tell you it feels like I– like  _ we _ have known you far longer than we have and you've made a tremendous impact on both of our lives… I remember when you told us you needed time for this, for us, and then later I came to learn about your poor experiences with undefined relationships…”

Pearl's eyes were wide by then, her dainty fingers slacking around her burger until it was carried entirely by the shining white plate below it.

Garnet let out a nervous breath of a laugh and shot her a heart-stopping smile. Amethyst was looking at Pearl from the side, a giant grin plastered across her face and the blonde couldn’t decide who she wanted to look at more. A brief thought of wanting both of them to sit opposite her to solve that problem flashed across her mind before the short-circuiting anticipation took back over. 

“Damn, I’m bad at this.” Garnet chuckled under her breath before continuing, making Amethyst laugh a bit and Pearl crack a smile with a little nod to encourage her onward. 

“Right, well I said all of that to say– we would love for you to be our girlfriend, if you'd have us. You obviously don't have to commit to anything now if you're still not ready, but whenever or if-ever you are… we’re here with you whether you say yes or not. If anything, you're the first best friend either of us have had that wasn't each other in a while and–”

“ _ Yes.”  _

Garnet’s nervous rambling cut off abruptly and she blinked those large, brown and blue eyes at her slowly as if she couldn't believe the word that just left Pearl’s mouth.

“Y-yes?”

“ _ She said yes _ !” Amethyst laughingly boasted in elation, a rowdy gesture of excitement almost knocking over her glass of water and drawing the annoyed gazes of the few patrons left in the restaurant. A relieved and joy filled laugh bubbled up Garnet’s throat and it was only the presence of the wooden, food and drink covered table between them that kept her from lunging forward and kissing Pearl right then. The blonde wasn't faring much better, a deep red tint from her cheeks to her chest and a smile that could light a blazing path from Chicago to where they sat. Then there was Amethyst’s warm hand, surprisingly gentle, grasping Pearl's jaw to tilt her head down and to the side, and the buzzing kiss that exploded between them lit a hundred candles and bursted a hundred light bulbs all at once behind her eyelids. When the drummer pulled away, nearly vibrating in her seat, Pearl’s eyes opened slowly and she had only barely caught her breath when Garnet laced their fingers together across the table and brought her knuckles up to press so, so tenderly against her full lips. 

Blue and brown eyes held her gaze in a dizzying grip the entire time, and the way Garnet stared at her from over their linked fingers, lips grazing the back of her hand when a triumphant, loving smile pulled at the corners of them, set everything Pearl thought she knew about relationships, about  _ loving _ others purely and deeply, up in flames. She had never felt so individually cared about by any other people in her entire life and that feeling, the one blazing behind her rib cage and deep in her stomach right then, opened an entirely new door to life right before her eyes. 

  
She stepped through it fearlessly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanna say that all of the support I've gotten for this fic has truly driven me to put 110% into it not even for me, but for you guys too, so yeah just thank you all for your kind comments and such. It's never unappreciated, I swear.
> 
> I swear this chapter was gonna be a filler and then the plot just sort of inserted itself (I was smiling the whole time I wrote the dinner scene it was just too adorable for me not to). As always, let me know what you thought in a comment, and/or come talk to me, get fic updates, or ask any questions at my tumblr: bakedgarnet.tumblr.com
> 
> ALSO, I made a relationship playlist master post (http://bakedgarnet.tumblr.com/post/149059808296/show-me-love-relationships-playlist-master) and for those of you who saw it posted already, there have been a couple additions and links added so you can listen to them on spotify if you want.


	8. A Shift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Garnet and Amethyst meet Pearl's sisters, Garnet and Pearl have a heart to heart, and Amethyst gets shit handled (when she's not dead asleep).

Smooth asphalt was soundless against the tires of Pearl’s silver little car. They rolled to a gentle stop in front of a cobblestone path surrounded on both sides by synthetic green grass and immaculately trimmed evergreen hedges. Between the two cube shaped plants sat a deep brown wooden door in front of two shallow cobblestone steps. There were no stray leaves littering the walkway or grass as an indication of the last withering months of autumn transitioning into winter, and the only sign that snow had ever disturbed the perfectly maintained looks of this home were two wet patches on the pathway in the process of drying. 

Garnet and Amethyst regarded it all with drawn eyebrows and slacked jaws in disbelief. 

The house was no mansion, but their own tiny one bedroom apartment was a far cry from the pure financial stability the home reeked of. Pearl regarded the house for a long while, her fingers in such a death grip around the steering wheel that Amethyst thought she may have to pry her from the seat so they could get out of the slowly chilling night air. Eventually Pearl killed the engine and stepped out of the car, walking around to the trunk and popping it open with the button on her car keys. Garnet and Amethyst took that as an invitation for them to exit the car as well, and soon they were on the right of her, grabbing their own small bags and tugging them up the walkway behind Pearl, who marched up to the door with all the steeled spine of a soldier bracing for impact. The porch lights flickered on in response to their approach, and before Pearl could ring the doorbell or knock, the rich mahogany door swung open to reveal a short haired golden blonde woman with an icy, piercing blue eyed gaze and a bloodthirsty smirk crawling over her lips as she stared an inch higher up to meet Pearl’s eyes on the front porch. 

“Oh, would you look who came home? Although I  _ distinctly  _ remember you saying something along the lines of… ‘I'm never setting foot in this hell hole again’?” Her quote of Pearl’s earlier words trailed up into a patronizingly rhetorical question. The shorter woman held her delicate chin up haughtily, looking down her sharp nose at the younger sibling on her old doorstep. Pearl glowered at her sister and released a huff of a sigh through her nose. Before she could even open her mouth, however, a dejected voice floated their way from what seemed to be the living room. 

“Would you leave Pearl alone and let her in?” The feminine voice droned, a severe hint of annoyance building in her tone when a muttered, “For fuck’s sake.” followed the request. Neither Garnet or Amethyst were positive they weren't supposed to hear that part as well. The golden blonde woman at the door rolled her eyes and began to move back from blocking the doorway when Pearl shouldered her way through instead, causing her to scoff in offended shock. Garnet and Amethyst looked at each other warily before moving to follow their girlfriend inside, but got stopped by a slipper clad foot and a perfectly manicured hand. Those icy blue eyes previously glaring holes into Pearl turned onto them with an intrigued glint radiating from within. 

“And who are these lovely guests you've dragged along?” She asked, taking in the two before her. Her chillingly intense gaze absorbed Garnet’s mane of tight curls and mysterious sunglasses down to her skin tight, burnt orange t-shirt beneath a puffy leather bomber jacket and low-ride, loosely fit light denim jeans, cuffed at the bottom, that hung on her hips and exposed an enticing sliver of skin between the waistband and her shirt. Her two inch heeled black ankle boots scuffed against the ground in an uncomfortable response to the staring. Pearl’s sister’s intrigue only growing, she turned her eyes to Amethyst and her typically wild mane of hair pulled into a haphazard ponytail atop her head, her oversized gray and black knitted turtleneck sweater that hung to her thighs, which were encased in tight black jeans that ripped once at each knee, and those beat up white sneakers adorning her feet. A derisive laugh bubbled from the golden blonde haired woman's throat as she turned back to look at her little sister.

“Oh,  _ Pearl.  _ There's no way they're here with  _ you _ .” Pearl bristled at the dig and her arms flew to cross over her stomach in a subconscious desire to make herself so, so much smaller. Garnet stepped forward intimidatingly and instantly drew the attention of the unknown woman again.

“ _ Excuse me? _ ” She glared from behind her shades. Her low, accented voice snaked through the air like the quiet roll of thunder before a raging storm. Pearl’s downcast eyes snapped up at Garnet’s voice and she jumped to defend her sister’s words out of pure reflex.

“No, it's okay Ga–”

“I mean, have you seen yourselves? No one this attractive hangs out with my  _ sister.”  _ A full-bellied, tinkling laugh that reminded Amethyst of shattering glass or maybe wind chimes interrupted her words and she got the last of them out through giggles.

“Especially– especially not on  _ purpose.”  _ Before Garnet could say what she truly wanted to, that monotone voice from before made its way to the front door, louder and much closer than it had been last time

“Let her fucking guests in, you cunt, it's cold outside!” An olive skinned girl marched up to the door handle and tugged it open, practically shoving the no longer laughing woman out of the way with a bony shoulder. Her stylishly short hair was dyed such a dark blue it would have looked black under dimmer lighting. Her own blue eyes, more similar to Pearl’s than her other sister’s, looked at the two woman in the doorway apologetically before letting them in. Garnet walked in first, eyeing the home suspiciously from behind her shades out of habit. Amethyst entered next at Garnet’s affirming nod that it was safe for them to enter. This was a habit borne from their days of bouncing from home to home, never knowing what dangers awaited them when they set foot into an unfamiliar house. It shouldn't have been as natural as it was for them to discreetly search for every possible exit as soon as they were inside. 

Pearl was at their side in an instant, slinging her duffel bag over her shoulder as she turned to look at her blue haired sister. 

“Where are mom and dad?” She asked tensely.

The smaller girl snorted and draped herself back across the couch she had previously been lounging on, picking up her book from where it lay on the glass coffee table and propping it up on her stomach to resume reading. Her sock covered feet bounced to some unheard beat.

“Where do you think?”

Pearl sighed through her nose and grabbed Garnet and Amethyst’s hands with her now free ones, leading them toward the light wood stairs across the room. They were halfway up the staircase when a voice floated up to them from the closed front door. Her blonde haired sister was leaning against it arrogantly, long hands perched on narrow hips as she smirked up at their retreating backs.

“You're not going to introduce me?”

Pearl shot a withering glare over her shoulder, one that she had recently learned from Garnet that tended to scare even the most frightening people away, and spat, “Fuck off, Eve.” with a flourish to her cursing that was entirely Amethyst. Her older sister’s eyebrows shooting toward her hairline and scandalized gasp were the last things the three saw or heard before they were out of sight and earshot and up the stairs. Pearl’s youngest sister’s laugh crackled up to them shortly after as they made their way down a long hallway. 

Garnet and Amethyst's covered feet felt intrusive on the immaculately cleaned carpet, and they stepped ever so carefully until Pearl stopped at the last door on the left. She dropped her bag inside of the door and flicked the light on to reveal her old bedroom. The walls were a simple pastel blue with a white comforter and pale yellow sheets spread atop the queen sized bed. Playbills from her favorite musicals were posted in perfect alignment on the far wall beside several hooks designed for what had to be almost fifty medals to hang up on. Below that was a white wood desk, cleared aside from varying sizes of trophies and an accompanying office chair. Her closet was on the adjacent wall and a dresser with a mirror above it was against the one opposite that beside the bed– but that was it. No other defining sense of personalization was present. No photos, childhood stuffed animals, movie or band posters, art, or anything adorned the room aside from the seven playbills lined up with perfect measurements between each and the absurd amount of medals and trophies. 

“Uh, P, you sure this is your room?” Amethyst finally spoke, glancing around uncertainly with her eyes scrunched up in the way that Pearl tended to find adorable. The strawberry blonde turned to look at her, confusion lacing her tone.

“Why wouldn't it be?

Garnet took one hesitant step forward into the room, followed by two more confident ones, and placed her bag down on the beige carpet beside the bed. 

“Ah… No reason. Just wondering.” Amethyst saved, her voice quiet in the oppressive silence of the house, and followed Garnet’s lead. She stood beside her, not knowing quite where to put her limbs. For as much space this house had, it was just that- a house. There was no homey feel, none of the warmth that even she and Garnet’s miniscule one bedroom apartment had accumulated over the couple of years they’ve lived together. If she were home, she would have flopped onto the bed with her shoes kicked off and a grin on her face, but the icy feeling that permeated the two story home seemed to physically stop even her from relaxing enough to do so.

“So, those are your sisters.” Garnet commented, and it wasn't a question so much as an understanding observation. Pearl rocked back on her heels before stepping fully inside the room, closing the door behind her, but not bothering with the lock. She walked over to the foot of her old bed and lowered herself down to the mattress with a small sigh. The bedspread barely made a dent around her light weight. Amethyst and Garnet followed her lead and sat down on either side of her, watching their girlfriend with concerned eyes.

“Yeah.” Pearl sighed the word. As naturally as breathing, her hand found the tiny remote on the center of the pristinely made bed and used it to adjust the dimness of the lights. The room darkened just enough to make Garnet comfortable with removing her glasses. “The one who answered the door is Eve– her full name is Yvette, but she doesn't go by it much. The younger one is Bellamy. I swear they're less… intense normally. They get just as anxious as I do coming back home, and we all kind of deal with that separately.” 

Amethyst reached over and placed her hand over Pearl’s on the blonde's lap, earning a small, grateful smile and a feather-soft kiss on the cheek in return. Garnet adjusted her shades, removing them from her eyes and setting them carefully on the bed. She looked down at Pearl, feeling an unanticipated rush of protectiveness wash over her for her new girlfriend. 

“So Eve doesn't always talk about you that way?” She asked, hating the fact that she knew the answer as soon as she’d asked. Pearl’s eyes were the size of the moon, wide and impossibly sad when they turned to her, and one small shoulder rose and fell along with the appearance of a self-deprecating smile. 

“Well, she's not wrong. I look at you both every day and wonder what on Earth you see in me.” She laughed mirthlessly and cast her heavy gaze downward. Amethyst's heart plummeted while Garnet’s gave a heavy, slow  _ thump _ in the ensuing silence, and she and Amethyst both grabbed one of Pearl’s hands in both of their own, startling her from riptide thoughts.

“Pearl, even with all the absolute shit-tastic things to go down in our lives-” Amethyst paused, leveling a heavy glance into Garnet’s uncovered, carefully blank eyes before she looked back at Pearl. 

“I think I can speak for both of us when I say that we never thought we’d be lucky enough to meet someone like you.” Amethyst explained, her eyes bare in their honesty as she gazed up into azure irises. “When stuff keeps going wrong, eventually you expect it to always be that way… and of course G and I had each other before we met you, but we were all each other had for a  _ really long _ time. You brought a whole new light to both of us. If no one else here can appreciate that, you have two people right here who are gonna treat you like the fuckin’ gem you are.” Amethyst smiled tenderly up at Pearl in her moment of completely serious emotional transparency and Garnet squeezed her other hand in agreement, lifting it up to her lips much like she had at the restaurant. 

Pearl was shocked to feel tears pricking at her eyes. 

A sad little laugh burst from her mouth as she pulled her hands away and reached both arms out to pull both women in for a shockingly bone-crushing hug. Amethyst almost fell across her lap, but made do by throwing her arms around Pearl’s torso. Garnet wrapped her long arms around the both of them and squeezed them both even tighter against her chest. 

“If Eve talks to you like that again while I’m here I might have to punch her.” Garnet admitted calmly, causing Pearl to laugh again and squeeze even harder around her body.

* * *

 

Pearl was the first to wake on Thanksgiving morning, her eyes still heavy with sleep until she realized where she was and tensed instantly. A quiet breath rushed from between her lips when she noticed the protective arms around her body and relaxed. The trio had fallen asleep as they typically did, Garnet as the big spoon, her arms wrapped all the way around her two girlfriends with Pearl in the middle and Amethyst curled into Pearl’s front. 

Throughout the night, though, they tended to end up in very different positions. 

Pearl typically could stay in a single position through the night, but with the addition of two new bodies she adjusted around, or sometimes on top of or under, them as they slept. This morning she was practically on top of Garnet, a leg thrown over her wide hips and her face deep into the warm woman’s neck while Amethyst’s head nestled between Pearl’s shoulder blades comfortably. She felt Amethyst shift slightly on her back and a small, sleepy sigh warmed a spot on her shoulder. Garnet’s breathing was deep and even below her, and her heartbeat thudded strong and comforting behind her rib cage, lulling Pearl back into a deep relaxation bordering on sleep as she snuggled deeper into the dark skinned woman’s chest. 

She was on the cusp of a dream when Garnet stirred, a deep breath preceding her blue and brown eyes fluttering open. Pearl raised her head as much as she could without disturbing Amethyst and she and Garnet simply stared at each other for what felt like hours, but was probably only seconds, before Pearl closed the tiny distance and pressed her lips against Garnet’s fuller ones. The kiss was short and sweet and they pulled away from each other with a soft sound that sounded much louder in the resounding silence of the bedroom. Suddenly, Garnet’s chest vibrated with a silent laugh as her lips curled upward. Pearl’s heart stuttered at the sight and she shoved the feeling down to raise her eyebrows in question. Garnet’s white teeth flashed with a half-smile. 

“Morning breath.” She whispered simply, drawing a playful eye roll from Pearl. The blonde leaned her face back down to brush fluttering kisses against Garnet’s neck and jaw until she reached the corner of her mouth. Her thin nose brushed Garnet’s wider one as she turned her face just slightly to capture her lips anyway. Pearl felt the lips beneath hers curve into a smile as they languidly moved together in a dance that felt older than them both. Pearl wasn’t entirely sure she hadn’t been in that exact position, their lips dancing the exact same steps in some other lifetime, in some other bed, in some other habitat. An involuntary smile spread across her mouth wide enough that it was impossible to resume kissing her girlfriend. They pulled apart, Garnet staring up at her in amusement, one of her eyebrows raising in response to Pearl’s reaction. The lighter skinned woman drew her bottom lip between her teeth in a frail attempt at holding back the giant grin tugging at her cheeks and she merely shook her head, a bounding, jovial  _ thrumming _ in her stomach that warmed whenever she was around these two women taking over everything she felt in that moment. Garnet’s body shifted beneath hers then, a tiny frown drawing her eyebrows together. 

“Toilet?” She asked sleepily, and Pearl’s breathy laugh was directed into her neck before the blonde raised her head back up only to remember that if either of them moved, they would jostle Amethyst.

“I can’t get up.”

Garnet chuckled, her laugh more of a vibration in her chest and shoulders than actual noise, and kissed Pearl on the forehead. 

“You could probably shove her on the floor and she’d stay knocked out. It’s okay.” She whispered.

Pearl experimentally raised her body up off of Garnet’s, slightly moving Amethyst’s head on her back. She had been worrying for nothing though, because the curly haired woman between her shoulder blades was still dead asleep. Garnet carefully maneuvered from beneath Pearl and stared at her expectantly as she stood in bare feet on the perfectly cleaned carpet. Her hair was carefully braided into eight long cornrows to the back beneath her black silk wrap around the top of her head, the bottom of the braids reaching below her shoulder blades, draping down from underneath it– Pearl had watched in fascination as the process took place the night before, then asked Amethyst why she never did anything with her hair at night like Garnet tended to. The answer was simple. She didn't have the patience.– Garnet’s form fitting white t-shirt was wrinkled and her legs were devoid of pants as usual. The maroon, hip-hugging underwear that caressed her curves, however, sent a white-hot flash across Pearl’s cheeks and neck. 

She hastily directed Garnet to the bathroom across the hall, but before she could leave:

“Aren't you going to put on some pants?” she whispered urgently. 

Garnet stopped as if being half naked hadn't even occurred to her and sighed, bending over near the foot of the bed to rummage through her bag for a pair of sleep shorts. The sight caused a strange wheezing noise to fly from Pearl’s mouth as she tried  _ so _ hard to find her breath. Garnet glanced over her shoulder to look straight into Pearl’s eyes as she stood back up, a pair of plaid pajama shorts hanging from her long fingers, and fucking  _ smirked _ . She bent a little at the waist to step into the shorts and wriggled them up her thighs a bit. They fit loosely around her slim waist, but hung just right on her hips. Pearl could see a fair sliver of her faint V-line dipping just past the waistband and nearly broke her neck to slam her face down into the pillow beneath her with a groan. All she heard before the door opened and closed with Garnet’s exit was a rumbling chuckle like quiet thunder following a searing flash of lightning, and then silence again.

Garnet’s bare feet padded out into the hall stealthily, a skill she had never particularly meant to acquire, but currently had nonetheless. The house was silent aside from faint footsteps in kitchen, a refrigerator door opening and closing a floor below, and she had good intuition that Pearl’s parents were downstairs instead of her sisters. The door to the bathroom was just as silent as the rest of the house and Garnet wondered how anyone could live here without going insane. 

She wasn't the loudest person by far, but Amethyst's constant moving, dancing, music playing, and video game blasting tended to keep her from wallowing in silence. Silence was where she couldn't fight off her thoughts because they were oh so vocal when the external world was quiet.

Understandably, it was probably a bit early, but it was too quiet the night before as well and everyone had been awake and about, just all moving like ghosts. Everyone else on autopilot, going through motions that had been dead for years.

That’s what this house felt like– a cemetery. 

Yeah, she would have lost her shit living here, too. Her body shivered involuntarily as she entered the bathroom. She didn't bother with the light, sunlight streamed in through the window enough that she could see without it bothering her. After using the bathroom, she pressed the handle down to flush and frowned in disbelief that the  _ toilet _ was silent, too. Shaking her head, she stepped over to the sink and washed her hands. 

The soap was unscented– and at that realization the thing that almost bothered her as much as the silence and lack of homely-ness of this house sprung forth. 

This house didn't have a  _ smell _ . 

Everyone's house smelled some way, a combination of the residents and whatever scents are most often prevalent, but this one  _ didn't.  _ It simply didn't even smell lived in, and Garnet stared unseeingly into the mirror in bafflement. She would think that was impossible were she not standing in it right then. The realization made her skin crawl a bit, as if her body was subconsciously aching to flee. None of it felt right, and if this had been a foster home back during the times when she and Amethyst tended to get placed together, they would have had their escape planned already. She didn't even want to wipe her hands on the immaculate towels hanging up in perfect alignment with each other. 

None of it felt real. 

She wiped her hands on her shorts and shook her hands out to air dry the parts that were still damp. Pushing the thoughts away and trying to quell her flaring instincts, she exited the bathroom and made it back across the hall without incident. Pearl’s face still hadn't cooled off from her earlier teasing and the sight of her sitting cross legged on her bed beside Amethyst's sleeping body lifted some of the tension from her shoulders. Garnet stepped into the room and closed the door behind her gently, locking it behind her and walking back over to the bed to immediately remove the shorts she had solely put on for her trip across the hallway. Pearl laughed a bit, breathy and sweet, and the last of the coiling in Garnet’s muscles and gut eased at the sound. 

As long as she knew Pearl and Amethyst were safe, and as long as she could keep them that way, she was okay. 

Garnet crawled onto the bed over Pearl’s body and slowly progressed until the blonde’s downy head was pressed into the pillow and she was on all fours above her. She watched Pearl swallow heavily from beneath her and smiled a bit, leaning down to press gentle kisses against her chin, both cheekbones, her forehead, and then her nose. Pearl’s eyes had fluttered close at some point between the actions and Garnet pressed her full lips against each eyelid before pulling back. The woman beneath her opened her eyes again and gazed up into one earthy brown eye and an ocean blue one, and Pearl couldn't help but think that she was dating Mother Nature reincarnated. Everything about Garnet seemed to embody the intricate, winding beauty of the Earth, and the overwhelming admiration for the solid body and genuine soul above her caught Pearl entirely off guard. Those dual colored eyes above blinked in surprise and Garnet lowered herself until her weight was on one forearm while she lifted her free hand to wipe a stray tear from Pearl’s cheek with her thumb.

“What's wrong, Pearl?” She murmured gently. Pearl released a quiet, watery laugh and shook her head.

“It’s stupid.” She shrugged, but Garnet captured her gaze again and looked at her like she was one of the most important people in the world and said, “Nothing that matters to you is stupid. Especially nothing that makes you cry.” She pressed earnestly and caused even more tears to fall from Pearl’s eyes. Suddenly they were sitting up and Pearl was in Garnet’s lap, her nose buried into a warm neck and her lanky body encased in a firm embrace that grounded her instantly, and Pearl simply cried. A tattooed hand rubbed soothing circles on her back, the other one gently caressing her scalp through her feathery hair, and Garnet’s lips pressed against her temple, every now and then whispering calming words into her ear until she stopped crying. Finally, she pulled away from Garnet’s neck and looked into her eyes again. Her t-shirt was stained at the neckline with Pearl's tears and her neck was damp as well, but she didn't even look fazed. Brown and blue eyes looked back at her, patiently waiting until she was ready to talk, and Pearl’s thin hands raised to cup her cheeks, thumbs brushing across Garnet’s high cheekbones down to the sharp angle of her jaw. 

“I don't deserve either of you.” She whispered finally, the shaky confession catching Garnet entirely by surprise. Pearl pressed their foreheads together, maintaining their eye contact, and puffed out an uneven breath.

“And I know that's not fair to myself– I  _ know  _ that, but everything I’ve ever grown up with has told me that I don't deserve the feelings I have around you, around Amethyst, for so long that I–” Pearl’s voice cracked and she pursed her lips until she was sure she could finish talking without crying again.

“I can't help but feel guilty for how happy you both make me.” She finally got out, her voice breaking toward the end of her sentence, and Garnet’s put together facade of strength crumbled before Pearl’s eyes. Strong arms were wrapped even tighter around her in an instant, and Garnet’s nose buried against her cheek as her lips pressed against the soft curve of her jaw. She held her that way for a long time. Faint sniffles came from beside Pearl’s head and she was so stunned to even  _ hear _ Garnet cry that her own tears seemed to stop in their tracks. The last time she had even barely witnessed the act was the morning after they had first met, following Garnet and Amethyst’s argument, and even then her eyes were covered and she had only barely seen one tear before it had been wiped away without a trace. Garnet pulled back and stared into her eyes with watery ones, a sad smile on her full lips.

“Leave it to you to get me emotional.” She tried to joke, but the downward tugging on the corners of her lips prevented the typical flair her teasing in place of feelings usually had. 

“I’m so sorry you haven't felt the love you've deserved.” Garnet began again, her low voice cracking halfway through. Pearl’s wide eyed gaze was trapped in hers, unblinking as she watched another tear escape down Garnet’s cheek.

“But I promise Ame and I will make up for lost time– because you have one of the most beautiful souls I have ever had the honor of meeting. And you deserve so much better than what you've gotten.” She finished with a loving kiss pressed to Pearl’s forehead and the abundance of humming warmth that radiated through the blonde’s entire body in response was addicting to someone who hadn't felt it before recently. 

So this was what being loved felt like.

Amethyst stirred in the middle of their tear-filled, emotional moment, yawning hugely and rolling over to face them with sleep still heavy in her eyes. Those same eyes shot open, however, at the sight of her two girlfriends, full lips parting in surprise while her thick brows drew downward. She flew into a sitting position.

“Woah, the fuck happened?” She asked, voice laden with sleep, but the alarm in her tone was prominent. Garnet and Pearl looked up then, Pearl turning a bit in Garnet’s lap to look at the curly haired woman behind her. Amethyst's mane of curls framed her face hugely, falling over her shoulders and sticking out in every direction more so than usual. The sweatshirt she went to sleep in was turned halfway around her body as if she had apparently only gotten one arm out of it as she slept in the middle of the night. She truly was a sight; so much so that Garnet and Pearl burst into mutual relieving laughter as the tension around them drained. Amethyst scowled at being laughed at and almost let them both have it when they shared a plotting look with each other and then lunged on top of her, engulfing her body in a giant three way hug that melted whatever ire had built up in half a second. 

“Alright, alright, get off’a me!” Amethyst cackled under their wandering hands that tickled at her sides. Garnet was much more content to have a room full of laughter than a room filled with silence any day. The bed post squeaked under their combined weight jostling the mattress and soon Pearl and Amethyst turned on Garnet. Pearl attacked her sides until she saw Amethyst going for the only place that could crack the younger woman– behind her knees. Garnet muffled her yell behind her hands and tried in vain to buck Amethyst off of her by kicking her legs out.

Pearl pinned her down with her knees on either side of Garnet’s stomach and leaned over to hold her hands captive above her head. Amethyst attacked the back of the taller woman’s legs ruthlessly, and Pearl absorbed her laughing, preciously high pitched screams with her own lips over Garnet’s. It was a messy clash of teeth, saliva and laughing mouths and not smooth or sexy at all, but damn if it wasn't the happiest any of them had been in a long, long time. Amethyst started getting even more playful, the sneaky menace, and gripped Garnet’s thick thighs in her smaller hands, roughly pulling her down until her face was right between her legs. Garnet’s laughter cut off when her breath hitched in Pearl’s mouth in response to Amethyst landing a deceptively harsh bite on the inside of her thigh. Garnet's hips jerked upward automatically. Pearl broke their lips apart to look over her shoulder at what caused the change and a scorching bolt of heat shot between her legs to see Amethyst so cockily between Garnet’s thighs. A hungry smirk overtook Amethyst's full lips as she met Pearl’s eyes and leaned down to suckle on the bite. 

Pearl’s mouth had gone dry. 

Her dilated pupils turned back to Garnet slowly, unable to look anywhere but her now-stuttering chest and plump bottom lip between white teeth. Blinking out of her stupor, she moved her gaze up to Garnet’s eyes, which were blinking themselves out of a similar haze. Coming back to her senses, the dark skinned woman rammed the heel of her foot into Amethyst's lower back and cleared her dry throat, helpless against how it cracked anyway.

“ _ Ame _ , not at Pearl’s parents’ house.” 

Amethyst groaned and dragged her mouth away from her girlfriend’s thigh. She pushed herself up from between Garnet’s legs and plopped down on her butt to cross her own between where Garnet’s were spread. 

“Y’all are  _ no _ fun.” She pouted as she readjusted her sweatshirt until both of her arms were through the holes correctly, causing both of her girlfriends to laugh a bit in amusement. Pearl could still feel the blush that had raced from her chest to her cheeks and settled in very red stains beneath her skin when she released Garnet’s hands and sat back up. 

“I’m surprised no one has come looking for me yet, actually…” She murmured pensively as she turned her blue eyes to the bedroom door. Garnet’s hands moved to casually rest on Pearl’s thighs as the blonde thought. Amethyst crawled from between Garnet’s legs to throw her body down beside her, curly mane of hair ticking Garnet’s nose when she laid her head on her shoulder. The taller woman was bending her legs at the knees so that Pearl could lean back against her thighs when she remembered her earlier trip out of the room.

“Someone was downstairs when I was out there.” 

Amethyst screwed her face up as she looked between the two.

“Well fuck, how long were you guys up before me?” 

Pearl allowed a half smile to curl her lips upward and slipped her hand over to rest on Amethyst's stomach. “Maybe a little under half an hour.” Her eyes returned to the bedroom door with a faraway look haunting their depths. Garnet’s calm voice brought her back. 

“Pearl. You're going to have to introduce us eventually.” The blonde twisted her lips to the side and eventually released a massive sigh.

“You're right. You're right.” She paused for a moment, her hand stilling on Amethyst’s stomach where it was previously caressing the skin. 

“Okay! Throw some clothes on– nothing too fancy until later this afternoon… Oh! But should the first time you meet them be in casual wear? Maybe a nice shirt and some jeans could–”

“P. Chill out.” Amethyst laughed from beside them. “We’re professional parent pleasers.”

Garnet’s eyebrows scrunched together as she turned narrowed eyes on her.

“Since when?”

“ _ We got this.”  _ The curly haired woman emphasized and rolled over to scrappily hop off the bed. Her arms reached down by the foot of it and snatched up her duffel bag, dumping its contents atop the sheets. Small hands came together, one fist thumping into a pudgy palm with determination. She looked at her two girlfriends on the bed.

“Well get off your asses and let’s go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I can't thank everyone enough for reading and enjoying this fic as much as you have, so I'm probably gonna say it in all of my notes anyway
> 
> As always, let me know what you thought in a comment and/or come talk to me, ask me things, and get fic updates at my tumblr: bakedgarnet.tumblr.com
> 
> (i added an ask link to mobile so hopefully that makes things easier)


	9. Metamorphosis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet Pearl's Parents, Thanksgiving dinner ensues, and growth is acknowledged.

Amethyst's passing comment about being “professional parent pleasers” hadn't been entirely out of proportion. When you've survived largely by making connections and learning body language, and by default how to play on people’s likes and dislikes, it's actually quite easy to steer others’ opinions of you in your favor. That being said, Garnet and Amethyst were playing the shit out of their roles. It was almost an art, really, the way they played on Charles and Darcy Cabot’s personalities like finely tuned instruments. 

The painfully forced affection they suffocated Pearl with when they first descended down the stairs morphed into wary curiosity at the two strangers lagging behind her several steps. They offered their hands out to shake with firm grips in introduction, Garnet and Amethyst matching their strength impressively. Pearl’s father, Charles, was a pale, wiry stalk of a man with black rectangular framed glasses that probably cost as much as Garnet and Amethyst's rent for the month. His dress shirt was pressed immaculately, the top button undone in what counted as his attempt at casual fashion. It was tucked into khaki shorts that brushed below his knee. Amethyst had to force back a laugh, because leave it to this man to have on shorts and goddamn sandals in the winter. His face was cleanly shaven, and he was obviously where the three sisters got their sharp noses from– and pale blue eyes. His hair began to thin in the center, graying immensely around the edges, but it blended well into the original strange blonde color the rest held. 

Pearl’s mother was probably beautiful at one time. She still was, truthfully, but her face looked  _ tired _ , so tired. She seemed to be beneath a cloak of her own misery masqueraded by a faux love for cooking casseroles and planning family gatherings. Garnet didn't miss that she was on her third glass of offensively expensive red wine at only eleven in the morning. Her skin was a rich olive tone, her hair thick and dark with graying strands sprinkled at the roots. Her eyes were a warm brown, and the dark bags beneath them could only be covered by so much concealer.

Amethyst and Garnet knew worn down when they saw it. 

Her apron covered most of her short, round body, the embroidery on the front of it looking home made, but neither of them could even fathom this woman embroidering  _ anything _ . Her feet were slipped into little slippers very similar to her eldest daughter’s the night before. She was who Pearl and Bellamy got their skin tone and delicate facial structures from, their soft curves of a jaw and gentle cheekbones. Yvette resembled their father much more than her younger sisters did when it came to their faces and skin tone.

Darcy and Charles were soon very charmed to meet Garnet and Amethyst. 

“You've got a lovely home.” Garnet complimented at some point in their introductions, earning an appreciative smile from Pearl’s mother.

“And you have a very interesting accent! Where are you from?” Mrs. Cabot asked, one thick eyebrow raising in curiosity. Her husband stood slightly behind and to the left of her, carefully quiet while his wife did most of the talking.

“I was born in West London, but I moved here when I was six.” Garnet answered calmly, as if she were reciting grocery items from a list, as if her mum’s move to this country paired with the stress of her work and ongoing battle with depression didn't lead to her eventual suicide. 

Mrs. Cabot was speaking again.

“Oh! Interesting. I couldn't place my finger on your accent, it's like a strange mix between American and English.”

_ That's exactly what I just told you it is. _

“You can imagine I get asked about it often.” Garnet smiled cordially beneath her shades, and she was waiting for the question about them to come up next. This was typically how new encounters went. Amethyst got a kick out of not being the center of attention though, much more content to go unnoticed as much as possible among strangers. Garnet was such an oddity, though, that it was impossible for her to escape the rain of questions. If she wore her glasses, she had to explain her photophobia. If she didn't wear her glasses she had to explain her heterochromia. If she didn't talk, or kept her replies curt enough that people couldn't tell she spoke differently, people thought she was rude. If she did talk, they asked a million questions about her accent. 

She couldn't win.

“Are sunglasses indoors the new trend?” Darcy asked with an amicable laugh. Garnet was grateful that she could roll her eyes behind her glasses and not be found out.

“No, actually, my eyes are just sensitive to light.” Mrs. Cabot nodded understandingly, a sympathetic lilt to her tone. 

“I see, I see.” Garnet was hoping that their round of interrogation was over when one of the less common, but equally as annoying comments arised.

“It must be hard for you to find a boyfriend taller than you.” Charles spoke up finally, chuckling a bit as if this were appropriate banter between friends. Garnet held back her smirk excellently when she cut her covered gaze to look at at Amethyst and Pearl briefly.

“Not quite.” She smiled politely, and their conversation was steered into a more inclusive direction.

“Are you girls in college?” Mrs. Cabot questioned, moving around the island in the center of the spacious kitchen and putting foil over the pans of pre-cooked food before it went in the oven. Charles took that as his cue to take a seat at one of the island chairs, picking up the newspaper he had previously been reading and scanning the page he left off on. Amethyst stayed rooted in place, not knowing where to go and uncomfortable in the unfamiliarity of the house. Pearl’s hands tugged anxiously at each other behind her small back while Garnet stood her ground beside both of her girlfriends. 

“No, actually. Neither of us have the money, and scholarships were...scarce.” Garnet toed this line carefully. A family full of overly ambitious scholars could easily flip their opinion on those they didn't deem as intellectually on par with themselves. 

“We've been studying independently, though, just until we have enough saved. It's amazing what texts you can find between the Internet and the library.” Garnet smiled charmingly at the understanding expressions across Pearl’s parents’ faces.

“Oh, how _awful_! That's very mature of you both, though, staying on top of your education. I actually have a friend who works as a college counselor who could find you a  _ ton _ of scholarships hidden away for things you wouldn't believe. I could get you her information before you girls leave.” Mrs. Cabot offered matter-of-factly. Garnet nodded twice and smiled, “That would be appreciated, thank you.” 

Amethyst felt guilty leaving Garnet to do all of the talking, but the fear in the pit of her gut telling her she would say something wrong, offend them in some way, refused to leave. It locked her lips shut and glued her feet to one spot. The last thing she wanted to do was make a bad impression on Pearl’s parents, and Garnet was always so good with talking to people as long as the conversation didn't focus on her own emotions. She knew Garnet would understand her silence, but she felt useless nonetheless. The next round of questions died before it began at the sound of two unfamiliar pairs of footsteps entering behind them. 

“What's for breakfast?” Came a familiar monotone voice, before a higher, more irritated one followed. 

“Didn't you  _ just _ eat? You always–” Eve’s voice cut off abruptly at the sight of the two guests.

“Oh, good morning.” She smiled at Garnet and Amethyst kindly, not greeting Pearl at all. She glided over to her parents and dropped a kiss on both of their cheeks before turning to look over the food on the table with a slight downturn of her lips. Pearl subconsciously stepped closer to Garnet, and the need to grab her hand or arm or  _ something _ to ground herself amidst her overwhelming feelings around her older sister were thwarted by her family's presence. Amethyst noticed that Garnet was who she went to for protection instinctively. Something inside of her panged, and she couldn't tell if she was jealous of Pearl or Garnet, so she squashed those feelings down and made a halfhearted promise to deal with them later.

Knowing herself, it was unlikely.

“I’m making dinner for this evening, and that's all you're getting from me. Figure out breakfast for yourselves.” Mrs. Cabot’s voice was clear and strong, leaving absolutely zero space for debate. Bellamy huffed through her nose and eased behind Pearl to open the refrigerator doors. 

“Morning, twinkle-toes.” Bellamy grinned as she walked past, bringing a small smile to Pearl’s lips at the affectionate, long-time nickname.

“Morning, Bells.”

“ _ So,  _ how long are you two here for?” Eve asked, propping her elbows up on the kitchen island beside her father and leaning forward to give Garnet and Amethyst her full attention. The eye contact made Garnet uncomfortable; it was almost as if she looked straight through her glasses and into her eyes when she looked between the two of them. Amethyst opened her mouth to finally speak before something gave her pause. She couldn't quite figure out what was  _ off _ …

Weren't her eyes blue last night? She remembered from how  _ intense _ they were when they looked her over, how different they were from Pearl and Bellamy’s shade of blue.

“Do you wear contacts?” Amethyst blurted in her confusion, causing a deep red blush to crawl up Pearl’s blonde sister’s pale cheeks and splash down her neck as she realized she forgot to put them back in her eyes that morning. She withdrew from where she was previously leaning on the island and attempted to duck her head inconspicuously. 

“I, uh-” She stammered, but was quickly silenced by Bellamy’s husky laugh filling the quiet kitchen. Pearl pursed her lips against the amused grin threatening to overtake her face that almost faltered at the sight of her mother shooting an accusing glare toward her father, the sound of her younger sister’s purposely loud laughter in the background.

“I didn’t even notice last night… I can’t believe you still wear those.” Pearl murmured just loud enough for the room to hear after Bellamy’s mirth died down. Amethyst looked between the two sisters with genuine confusion in her gaze, completely unaware of what she had started, but knowing that she started  _ something _ – this was  _ exactly  _ why she didn't want to say anything–

And there was Garnet's hand, placed so carefully on her lower back that she almost didn't feel it at first, curling into the shirt covered flesh gently as she rubbed soothingly up and down her spine. The budding tension between her shoulder blades practically evaporated under the touch and it was such a small moment, taking place in five seconds maximum, and went unnoticed by everyone but themselves.

“Oh, shut up. Haven't you been, like, a hundred pounds since senior year? You sure there's not a problem there you should be dealing with?” Eve jabbed, causing Pearl to bristle and Garnet’s fist to clench at her side. Their parents seemed disengaged, returning to their respective tasks as if this behavior was tolerated, like there was nothing to be done, like mocking a mental illness was  _ okay _ . 

Garnet was furious; Amethyst was shocked.

“I’m one-hundred-and-thirty pounds and perfectly healthy. Stop projecting your own insecurities with your weight onto me.” Pearl boldly retorted, a hurt frown dragging her eyebrows down and together.

Eve snorted. Her brown eyed gaze, so similar to her mother’s, was fiery when it turned back onto Pearl.

“Oh,  _ you _ want to talk about insecurities–”

“It’d be wise of you not to finish that sentence.” Garnet’s voice held that surge of quiet power again, the rumbling thunder in her words promising lightning strike devastation. That gave most people in the room pause, never hearing anyone cut into Eve’s comments enough to shut her up before besides Bellamy. The youngest sibling stopped pouring milk into her bowl of cereal and stared up at Garnet in surprise, a slow grin spreading over her face in something akin to satisfaction. 

“Shut  _ down _ .” She called from her position at the far end of the island with a laugh that seemed to zap the tension in the room into dust. Everything seemed to move again after that, Pearl’s body relaxing and Eve’s withdrawing angrily, retreating from the kitchen with burning cheeks and a final glare at Pearl. She rushed up the stairs to put her contacts in. Amethyst seemed to finally breathe again, and Pearl’s parents inconspicuously regarded Garnet with interest. The urge to take her girlfriends and get the hell out of that house were strong, but miraculously Garnet managed to keep herself planted.

“...So what are we doing for lunch?” Bellamy asked around a mouthful of Lucky Charms, looking between Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet expectantly.

The three felt unanticipated laughter bubble up their throats, Garnet and Amethyst offered to make chicken quesadillas, and Pearl thought that maybe she could get through this.

* * *

The dinner table was adorned with accents placed perfectly around the food, place-mats set immaculately with fancy silverware and beautiful plates. Watching the process had been fascinating for Amethyst, observing the meticulous dedication to making everything look presentable for family. The Cabot’s obsession with their family image was interesting when it came to the fact that they also never quite looked out for each other unless it was out of convenience or for a crowd. Amethyst noticed that Bellamy was the only person who lived there that went out of their way to be kind to Pearl.

As cousins, aunts, grandparents and uncles began to file in, those dynamics changed startlingly fast. Mrs. Cabot was now more affectionate to her children and took a back seat to her husband’s suddenly more dominant behavior. They appeared the stereotypical nuclear family by the time the last seat at the dinner table was filled. 

Garnet and Amethyst were bombarded with curious gazes and a slew of questions.

The looks were expected, they supposed, if Pearl’s reaction when they exited her bedroom dressed for the evening was enough indication. Her blue eyes had gone wide with awe, taking in Garnet’s unbraided hair falling in looser curls to frame her angular face and flowing golden-yellow dress that popped gorgeously against her skin. A brown belt wrapped around her small waist to emphasize the wide curves of her hips sent Pearl’s mind into a spinning melody of admiration. Amethyst had rendered her speechless with her lavender blazer over a black dress shirt and slacks. Her normally wild curls were slicked back into a high, neat ponytail with gel and flowed from the top of her head lusciously. 

Standing beside them felt more overwhelming than she had experienced in a long time. The feelings that stirred up as she pondered them later on reminded her so much of her intense admiration for Rose that she nearly dropped the plate in her hands she had been moving to the dinner table before the guests arrived. 

The comparison took her entirely off guard, but she took a slow breath in through her nose and reminded herself that Garnet and Amethyst cared about her as an individual. They weren't like Rose in the way that she had loved  _ everyone _ and gave her love to anyone willing to take it. There was nothing wrong with loving everyone unabashedly, but with Pearl still questioning her value and self-worth, it sent her to a bad place to know that she alone was not enough to satisfy her lover. She alone could not make Rose happy, and the last thing she wanted to do was hold her back. It wasn't without resentment that they ended things, but most of the hard feelings were on her own part for being strung along and  _ manipulated _ into not leaving– into thinking that she should have known that Rose desired multiple lovers and if she wanted something different she should have said so, that her resulting feelings of inadequacy were invalid.

Were they?

Was that not the same scenario with Garnet and Amethyst aside from her dating them both and not just one? Aside from them exclusively only dating each other and herself? Was it also not the same because they loved her as much as they loved each other, albeit differently? Because they didn't show the intense love they showed for herself and each other to any random person to come along?

Was that why they felt so much  _ different–? _

Those feelings were hard ones to deal with, though, and she had quickly shifted her thoughts back to her task before she could get scolded for dallying.

 

The dining room was alight with twinkling conversation under the stark light of the modest, overhead chandelier. Garnet was collecting several strange looks for the shades she wore at the table. There were only so many times and to so many people she could explain her eye condition and eventually the looks got the best of her– she  _ hated _ when strangers stared; it made her skin crawl and her palms sweat– and she finally slid them off of her face and set them folded in her lap. Garnet kept her gaze down at the plate of food in front of her. 

Amethyst noticed the action and the reasoning behind it quickly fell into place within her head. A sympathetic twinge caused her hand to reach out and squeeze Garnet’s thigh beneath the beige table cloth. Dual colored eyes raised only to look at her and the relief that flooded through them made Amethyst wish that she could be Garnet’s backbone all the time. She wanted to be the strong one, the one who Garnet could go to when things got too overwhelming, and the fact that she wasn't even strong enough for herself half of the time hit her like a searing flash of disappointment. 

She felt– inadequate.

She wanted Pearl to gravitate to her for solace, she wanted Garnet to instinctively reach out and clutch her arm when things got to be too much.

But yet she wasn't ready for that strength– and it twisted her stomach up until the macaroni, mashed potatoes and turkey leg in front of her may as well have been cardboard. Pearl sat on the other side of Garnet, her fork in a death grip between wiry fingers. Her aunt had been drilling her with questions regarding her degree, and when she planned on getting a job, and something that sickly coiled in the pit of her stomach along the lines of, “What happened to your roommate? That Rose girl? Why isn't she here?” She had answered as best as she could without revealing the true nature of she and Rose’s relationship, but the memories that ensued were  _ difficult _ . The baked macaroni and cheese felt like nothing more than mush in her mouth. 

Finally left alone, she glanced up to look at her girlfriends, hoping that they were faring better than she was, but unfortunately that was hardly the case. A cursory glance revealed that they were holding hands between their seats, knuckles tight with the force of which they gripped onto each other. Externally, they were the epitome of cool and collected between their phenomenal style and withdrawn demeanors. Internally, though, she knew the two well. Whatever turmoil gripped them, they were trying to push through it together.

She wondered how much of this had to do with witnessing a family event, one they would never get to experience with their biological families. Pearl had learned that Amethyst’s parents cut off all ties when they abandoned her. There was a very small chance to find her birth parents, and the chance she did have was far too expensive for her consideration. Garnet only had her mothers; both of their parents had passed away before she was four years old, and neither had siblings as far as she and the state knew. It didn’t really sink in how being surrounded by someone else’s family could have made them feel until just then. A twinge in her chest made her hand ache to reach out and  _ protect, comfort _ –

Having to wait until after everyone left was going to make this night excruciating. 

The room was buzzing with conversation– high pitched laughs, the wails of tiny, freshly acquired family members, and chatter as far as her ears could manage to make out. There were easily fifty people in total between both sides of Pearl’s family, and the noise all melded together until it was just a harsh wail in Garnet’s ears. A headache made itself known like a needle into her left temple and her eyes scrunched closed against its impact. There was classical music playing from someone’s speakers and, God, if someone could just turn the volume  _ down–  _

She faded back into the room, everything quickly becoming excruciatingly audible at once, in response to the hand in hers squeezing in question. Her entire miniature meltdown had only happened in the span of seven or so seconds; no one noticed except for Amethyst. It was strange being on the receiving end of the care. Amethyst stepping into a role unfamiliar to her made a streak of pride swell beneath her breast. She squeezed the hand back and chuckled a bit, leaning over and murmuring something along the lines of, “I should've taken your advice on those ear plugs.” under all of the  _ noise _ that obscured their intimate moment of conversation and comfort into Amethyst's ear. The shorter woman laughed that familiar, husky laugh in response and linked their fingers together in the safety of the hidden space between their chairs. The urge to pull Amethyst's hand up and brush her lips against her knuckles the way her girlfriend loved was almost too much. However, between Amethyst's hand in hers and Pearl to her other side, she just might be able to get through tonight.

* * *

Later that night, they all managed to escape to Pearl’s bedroom.

Nearly half the guests still lingered downstairs and the violin instrumental floated up to her room vaguely. The three were freed from their dress clothes and makeup, much to their relief. Garnet and Amethyst loved looking nice– when you don't have much in the way of money, but your taste is expensive, you learn to make miracles happen with fifty dollars and a thrift store for the year– but the unbridled  _ attention _ rained on the two of them was stifling.

Finally in their respective sleep clothes, Pearl was helping both of them decompress behind her locked bedroom door.

Garnet and Pearl lay on their sides, Amethyst sandwiched between them with her back to Garnet’s front. Pearl occupied Amethyst's full lips with her own slightly thinner ones in a languid symphony between their mouths. Garnet’s hand caressed Amethyst's sides, lovingly tracing the stretch marks that snaked from her hips to right below below her navel. Her lips traced from the back of Amethyst’s neck to behind her ear and gently grazed her teeth over the spot. 

A shiver wracked it's way down Amethyst's spine and Pearl shifted the hand beneath the front of her shirt until her fingertips just barely grazed the underside of her breasts. Amethyst could feel the hesitation and didn't pressure her to go any farther than she was ready for. Instead, her smaller hand reached up to curl into Pearl’s short, downy hair and tug her lips even closer. 

Their noses brushed carefully until the kiss crescendoed into a mess of frantic mouths and heavy breaths. Amethyst was only spurred further by Garnet’s hand wandering below her sleep shorts’ waistband and caressing right above where she truly wanted her– but she was only teasing. They wouldn't do anything with Pearl around if she wasn't ready to join in herself, and they could wait until they got home to touch each other the way they _really_ wanted to. The thought of Pearl watching them have sex was an intriguing one, but still a conversation for another day.

Amethyst introduced teeth to her kiss with Pearl and accidentally bit her bottom lip much harder than she intended to when Garnet sharply scratched a short nail down from her navel to her pubic bone and made her jerk with a hitched breath and spiked heart rate– but Pearl  _ moaned _ . It was as soft as she was, almost a wanting whine coming from the back of her throat, and the fact that she now had  _ two _ girlfriends who liked things a little rough sent a jolt of heady excitement through Amethyst's being. Garnet's heart seizing chuckle vibrated behind her and then their legs were intertwined, Garnet’s hands back on her hips and her lips suckling on the back of her neck and the side of her jaw. Pearl boldly slipped her tongue into Amethyst's willing mouth and the contact felt like every light in the house would blow with the pressure. 

Her thin fingers came into contact with Garnet’s when they met at Amethyst's hips and they linked them together atop their short girlfriend. 

She could stay like this forever. She could stay with  _ them _ forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again I can't thank everyone enough for the love you've all sent this story. We're slowly learning more about them and the things that they'll individually need to grow as people as long as to grow /with/ each other. As far as I'm aware. this fic is pretty much at its halfway point, but I need to flesh it out a bit more.
> 
> As always, let me know what you thought in a comment and/or come talk to me, ask questions, or anything else at my tumblr: bakedgarnet.tumblr.com (i truly do love speaking with each of you, so if you've ever wanted to message me and didn't i'm telling you i would honestly love to talk with you :) )
> 
> Thanks for reading, loves!


	10. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Pearl explains Eve's behavior, and Rose isn't as monogamous as everyone now thought.

The drive back to the house was permeated with relief. The goodbyes were short and sweet; Pearl’s mother made her promise that she would come by again for Christmas– Pearl answered in a roundabout way that technically didn't promise anything. They couldn't get on the road faster. Pearl sat in the driver's seat with the windows up and the heat on, fingers slowly releasing their tense grip on the steering wheel the further they drove from her old home. Garnet sat up front this time while Amethyst took her turn reclining across the back seat of Pearl’s car. The music from Garnet’s Spotify playlist was less upbeat than it was on the trip over to Michigan, but it wasn't sad, merely more relaxed. Another artist Pearl had never heard of. 

“Hey, P?” Amethyst called over the low volume of the music. Pearl’s blue eyes met hers through the rear view mirror for a moment before they flickered back to the road.

“Yes?”

“Remember when I asked Eve if she wore contacts and she, like, got pissy, or whatever?” Amethyst began hesitantly, her fingers tugging at loose strands of her hair until the curls went taut and then letting them bounce back up toward her face when she released it. Garnet glanced over at Pearl also, intrigued herself by the question. She had been wondering the same thing. Pearl sighed heavily, having dreaded the conversation since the situation occurred. 

“...Yes.” She responded, waiting for Amethyst to finish her question.

“What the fuck was that about? And her talking about your weight and shit…?” Amethyst continued, a little angry frown tugging her thick brows together. Pearl drummed her fingers against the steering wheel for a moment and then let her tense shoulders drop.

“Eve is…” Pearl sighed again, trying to formulate some sort of description for her troubled older sister.

“She idolizes our father, and she has since we were little. It… bothers her that she got so many features from our mother– and it's not entirely her fault, exactly–” Pearl struggled to put her words together, opening and closing her mouth several times while she tried to get them out in a way that made sense. 

“Our father used to make little...comments. They were jokes, really, but they got to her. Bells and I got his body type, athleticism and eyes– I had his hair color until I dyed it two months ago– those were all the things Eve wanted. She hated that she didn't look like us– look like him. Obviously, she got his paleness where Bellamy and I are darker, but she wanted his blonde hair and blue eyes and thinness– so she dyed her hair and wore blue contacts and struggled with her weight for  _ years… _ ” Pearl’s lips downturned and she shrugged a bit, avoiding the sympathetic frowns on her girlfriends’ faces. 

“It's made her really resentful of me and Bellamy. Our mother blames our father for ruining Eve’s self image– and it didn't help that he praised Bells and I the most when it came to their ridiculous expectations for us. No matter what she did, he just didn't put as much into their relationship as he did with us.” Pearl pursed her lips and breathed out with a huff through her nose. 

“So when you asked about her contacts she was just embarrassed. And attacking my weight– she's been projecting her own struggles with her size onto me and Bellamy since we were kids.” Pearl finished, partially lifting her thumbs and palms up from the steering wheel in a makeshift shrug. 

The car was quiet for a while aside from the slow indie song humming from the speakers. She was afraid to look at her girlfriends’ reactions to the explanation. The situation always made her uncomfortable when it came up in conversation, and this time was no different. Amethyst broke the silence first, scratching her forehead as she absorbed the information.

“Well, shit. I kinda feel bad for wanting to rip her a new one, now.” 

A corner of Garnet’s lips turned down in a frown, but she otherwise didn't comment. 

“Well, what she says isn't okay– but when you understand why she's the way she is… It makes it hard to hate her for it.” Pearl murmured the last part as if she were guilty for that fact. Garnet’s hand reached over to rest on her thigh comfortingly, a light squeeze punctuating her support. 

“Your folks are, uh…” Amethyst began, but stopped at the strange look on Pearl’s face through the rear view mirror.

“Can we not talk about my family right now, please?” She practically begged with a wrinkle between her brows and both Amethyst and Garnet nodded understandingly. 

“Ah…” Amethyst grasped for something to change the subject with until she remembered her fight scheduled for the upcoming weekend.

“Oh! You wanna come to my boxing match tomorrow?” She offered excitedly, remembering that she had signed herself up to make a reappearance after a long hiatus for a bit of extra cash toward Christmas gifts for Garnet– and now Pearl. The owner of the underground boxing ring had been elated to have one of his most entertaining, talented fighters back and drawing a larger crowd. Pearl cringed at the mental image.

“I don't think I could stomach watching you get beat up on, Amethyst…” She explained warily, catching Amethyst’s eyes again in the rear view mirror.

“ _ Beat up on _ ? Like those guys could even touch me.” The short woman crowed cockily, causing Garnet to smile a bit with pride. Pearl looked over to her with drawn eyebrows.

“And you're okay with this?” She asked in disbelief. Garnet shrugged one shoulder and gently scratched tiny patterns into Pearl’s thigh through her jeans while she thought on the question.

“Ame can do what she wants. It's something she loves and it pays the bills when we're short. It helps that she's a phenomenal fighter. She really will be safe.” Garnet explained, trying to reassure Pearl by her relaxed demeanor, if not with her words. Amethyst laughed a bit from the back seat, leaning up until her head was between the passenger and driver’s chairs. The demand that Amethyst put her seatbelt on was on the tip of Pearl’s tongue until her shorter girlfriend spoke again, stopping her words before they started. 

“ _ And _ G used to fight down there, too, so it's not like she could tell me not to, anyway.” Amethyst grinned confidently and dropped a loud kiss down on Garnet’s exposed cheek. The tallest woman huffed around a modest smile and nodded.

“Yeah. That, too.” 

Pearl’s eyebrows seemed to permanently reside in her hairline as she struggled to keep her eyes on the road and not stare incredulously at the woman beside her.

“ _ What _ ?” 

“Oh,  _ man _ , you should've seen her a year ago. No one could keep up with her in the ring. It damn near wasn't fair.” Amethyst snickered from beside their ears. Garnet’s face was hot when she waved the comment off, turning her covered eyes to glance out of the window. A light snowfall had begun, but melted before it could stick to the ground below. She had a feeling that once they got back to the city, there would be at least an inch of it waiting for them across their doorstep. She hated Chicago weather sometimes.

“C’mon, P. You can't tell me you're as athletic as you are and haven't done anything even a little dangerous once or twice.” Amethyst coaxed, and Pearl warily brought her shocked expression under control as she considered whether she wanted to reveal this snippet or not.

“Well…” 

“Ah  _ ha!”  _ Amethyst cheered and threw herself back down to the backseat with a  _ thump. _

“What was it, what was it?” She encouraged.

“I… used to fence…” Pearl muttered, but the music playing was nowhere near loud enough to cover her words like it would have been on the drive over to Michigan. 

“ _ What _ ?” Amethyst yelled enthusiastically, suddenly right beside both of their ears again. Pearl was the only one to flinch at the noise. Garnet reached over with the arm closest to her short girlfriend and placed her tattooed palm over her forehead, gently pushing her back toward her seat.

“This was years ago, Amethyst, and it was hardly anything to brag about…” Pearl said, her fingers loose around the steering wheel as the tension melted from her shoulders with the distance they gained from her childhood home.

“So what? I wanna hear about your  _ fencing _ .” She said the word with an awful attempt at some posh British accent that made Garnet and Pearl laugh in the front seats. 

“Fine, I’ll tell you all about it as soon as you put your seatbelt on.” Pearl grinned triumphantly through the rear view mirror when Amethyst playfully rolled her eyes and strapped herself into the middle seat so that she could see both of her girlfriends better. Garnet listened and watched the two of them bond over dangerous exploits, Pearl’s admittedly more legal and much more monitored. A warmth blossomed in her chest watching them talk to each other, and she wasn't sure what to call it, but she was extremely grateful for its residence.

* * *

Pearl had been back at home– back at Rose’s home– for two weeks after thanksgiving before her ex could pull her face away from Greg’s long enough to  _ really  _ talk to her. Her one-man-band of a boyfriend was off with some man named Marty– a complete sleeze bag and downright awful friend to Greg if you asked Pearl– and Rose seemed to finally remember she had another roommate. It was strange watching her be so immersed in one person after years of Pearl coming second, third and fourth to many a person who walked through that door. It ignited in her a rage like no other that  _ Greg _ of all people could get Rose into a committed, monogamous relationship. As if she hadn't been trying to do so herself for  _ years _ – but that was beside the point. 

Pearl was sitting in the living room, curled into one corner of the three person couch as she was immersed in a group chat between herself, Garnet and Amethyst, when Rose gracefully placed herself beside Pearl’s feet. The blonde hadn't even noticed the new presence beside her, too focused on holding off giggles behind her dainty fingers as she watched Amethyst and Garnet tease each other back and forth while the latter was on her lunch break and the former was at home. What they were doing was called “roasting” each other, according to Amethyst. Pearl had never heard of it herself, but then again spending time with them tended to open her up to many aspects of a culture she didn't know much about previously. She blamed her sheltered childhood for being the reason she could only sit and watch– though it was hilarious all the same. 

Rose placed a warm hand on Pearl’s knee. The blonde jumped at the sudden contact and nearly dropped her phone into the wooden floor below.

_ “Holy _ – you almost killed me.” Pearl blew out in the large breath of a relieved gust of air. Rose’s tinkling laugh sprinkled over the space between them, pink dyed curls spilling over her shoulders still wet from her shower. She only wore her favorite fluffy, pale pink robe and her dainty feet were bare. Pearl absently hoped she didn't drop any water onto the white leather couch– the one Pearl had specifically told her not to buy because cleaning it would be hell when it got dirty as it was inevitably going to do– but it seemed most of the stray droplets were caught by her robe, so she didn't comment on it.

“Oh, I would hope I didn't. I’d miss you far too much.” Rose smiled in that  _ way _ she tended to, with that voice that she always used– the one that made every word out of her mouth feel like a silky caress and every lie sound like lulling poetry. It was so easy to fall under her spell, truly. Pearl hated the way she made her sound devious in her own mind because the thought of  _ Rose _ being anything less than the pure ray of light she came off as felt like blasphemy in her skull.

“Then how about a bit of warning next time?” Pearl laughed nervously, shifting a bit until the messaging app on her phone was turned away from Rose. The sudden need to hide her relationship came from nowhere, and she couldn't tell if it was because she wanted to keep this amazing thing for herself only, or if it was because the idea of Rose seeing her moved on made her feel… bad? That was silly; Rose had no qualms about moving on from  _ her. _

“Where have you been, love? It feels like you're never here anymore.” Rose asked with a kind smile, the hand on Pearl’s knee warm and very much  _ there _ . Pearl took a steadying breath.

“Well, you're always out somewhere with Gregory and you know how I feel about empty houses… So I’ve been–out.” The words to tell Rose that she'd been with her girlfriends in most of her spare time was choked on her tongue by some invisible force until it died on her lips, replaced by the vague response that gave Rose pause.

“Out? You were never the type to go out… When we went to the bar that first night you almost lost your mind until you started drinking.” Rose giggled at the memory, drawing a frown on Pearl’s face.

“ _And_ you made me smoke weed with you and Greg.” Pearl reminded her, a bitter edge to her tone that Rose picked up on.

“Oh, Pearl, you didn't have to. If it made you uncomfortable you could have said no.” And there her voice was, doing that  _ thing  _ it always did and making Pearl question whether or not she was truly at fault for stepping so far out of her comfort zone that night.

“It  _ felt  _ like I had to! Greg kept making fun of me for not wanting smoke and you weren't stopping him, and even if I wanted to say something the only time you both would shut up long enough to hear me was when you had each other's tongues down your throats!” Pearl’s volume gradually increased until she was just on the cusp of yelling, causing Rose to draw her hand back and look on to her ex-something with shock. Her full lips parted with words she didn't know how to say as she watched the blonde beside her swallow heavily in recovery from her outburst. Pearl’s phone kept lighting up at its lock screen, a slew of messages coming in rapid fire. 

“I– had no idea–” Rose began, before she was interrupted.

“Well you would have if you'd paid attention.” Pearl grumbled and moved to stand up. Her destination in mind was her spacious bedroom upstairs, but that warm hand was around her wrist and turning her body back around until she was nearly nose to bosom with Rose. 

When did she stand up?

Why did she smell so  _ good _ ?

The scent of strawberry body soap and sea salt smelling shampoo warred with the now familiar scent of Garnet’s cocoa butter and mango aroma and Amethyst's vanilla scented conditioner in Pearl’s mind. 

_ Oh no, please. _

“My Pearl…” Rose cooed apologetically, sympathy bringing her brows together as she flitted her caressing gaze around Pearl’s face. Her warm hand lifted from her wrist to the base of her neck and Rose glazed her thumb against the side of it. Pearl closed her eyes, turning her head away as if that would stop the sudden onslaught of buried feelings she had for the woman in front of her. She didn't need this, she didn't  _ want _ this– 

“You know I never want to hurt you.” Rose’s voice melted like chocolate over her ears and inflated some part of her chest that she had long thought wouldn't dare be activated by Rose again. The thumb on the side of her neck stroked the skin there tenderly for a long moment, not forcing Pearl to look up until she was ready on her own. When she did, Rose’s full lips parted once more.

“Greg is a sweet boy. He's a delight to play with, but I must admit I do miss our games.” Rose's voice simpered on the edge of a whisper, several explosive inches between them. Oddly enough, the only coherent thought Pearl could have was that she  _ knew _ Rose couldn't be with only one person for a long period of time. If anything, she had been waiting for Pearl to come back to Chicago before she expanded her affections to the thin woman again. 

“R-Rose… What are you saying?”

_ Please don't _ –

“I miss you, Pearl.” Rose smiled softly, caressing the side of her neck until that warm hand glided to her cheek, dragging her thumb until it brushed her bottom lip and tugged it downward slightly on its descent. Blue eyes squeezed shut for several aching seconds before they were overwhelmed with brown ones again. These were so different from Garnet’s brown eye, or Amethyst’s pair. Rose’s were a lighter brown, almost hazel, and so  _ familiar _ that she almost forgot–

No.

_ No. _

Pearl harshly ripped herself away from Rose’s embrace and stumbled backward, her phone still in a death grip in her hand. The look of confusion and worry on Rose’s face was so genuine that it made her want to explain– she hadn't even told Rose about her relationship how would she have known?– but if she stayed where she was any longer she’d do something she would horribly regret, and so she bolted up the stairs to her bedroom without a word, taking the steps two at a time and somehow managing not to make a sound with her lithe form and light movements. 

“Pearl?” Rose called after her, but it was too late and Pearl’s back was against the inside of her locked bedroom door, chest heaving and palms sweating. 

She had to go. 

She had to go to–

Her car keys gleamed on her dresser in the afternoon sun shining through her window through the elegant drapes hung by Rose herself specifically for Pearl’s room.

Her feet shot forward of their own volition, her hands were gripping cold keys between her finger tips and her feet were slipped into the first shoes she could find. She thanked whoever would listen that she had been dressed in case she decided to leave the house later and didn't have to bother with her clothes. Grabbing her wallet and unlocking her bedroom door, she was off. 

Pearl was down the stairs and out the front door without a word, and Rose was still standing where she had previously been, mouth agape and eyebrows drawn in concern.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! That was fun. 
> 
> As always, thanks for reading/commenting/and overall supporting this fic as much as you all have. You're all greatly appreciated and I can't say it enough :)
> 
> Let me know what you thought in a comment and/or come talk to me/ask questions at my tumblr: bakedgarnet.tumblr.com 
> 
> [SIDENOTE: this story's rating got moved up to M a few chapters ago for the /almost/ smut scenes, but I wanna know if you all would want any future smut to go in this fic (I'll just put the Explicit rating in a note at the beginning of the chapter) or hint at it in this fic and write the explicit smut separately in a one shot. OR if y'all want smut at all. Just let me know.]


	11. Pleasure This Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Confessions and consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second half of this chapter is rated E for explicit. Should you want to skip that part, I'll give a summary of important points during that section in notes at the end. Enjoy!

Garnet lounged across the loveseat with her long legs draped over Amethyst's lap, on the verge of what was going to be an excellent nap, while her girlfriend played some post-apocalyptic war game beside her. Buzzing from the phone on her stomach disrupted her drowsy state, however, and her eyes cracked open to slide the answer icon across the screen. She knew instantly that it must have been Pearl because the only other person who called her was Amethyst and she was clearly not on the other line of this call. Bringing the device to her ear, she uttered a groggy, “Pearl. I missed your voice.”

Amethyst snorted from beside her, fighting noises and gunfire a slightly more quiet noise around the room so as not to disturb Garnet’s sleep.

“We were just with her two days ago, thirsty ass.” The shorter woman’s grin was for Garnet even as she stared at the television in front of her. The taller woman playfully rolled her eyes until she realized Pearl hadn't responded.

“Pearl?” She tried again, and the shaky breath on the other line followed by, “Can you buzz me in, please?” was enough to give Garnet pause. A gnawing feeling made itself known in her stomach, and she was standing up and making her way to the the device by the front door so that she could buzz Pearl in without question.

“What's wrong, G?” Amethyst asked after quickly noting the expression on her face when she looked away from her game. She didn't receive a response because Garnet was looking down at the phone in her hand, which showed that Pearl had hung up as soon as she buzzed her in. She waited at the front door, unlocking it and standing in the doorway.

Maybe Pearl was fine and the feeling in her gut was just overreaction.

Amethyst was too far gone into her game once again to follow up on her last question. A thin, slow moving figure made its way up the last flight of steps. Pearl’s eyes were downcast. When she finally reached Garnet, who reached her hand out to take Pearl’s, the blonde pulled away and shoved both hands into her back pockets without making eye contact.

“I need to talk to you… and Amethyst if she's around.” Pearl murmured, only loud enough to hear because she was one foot away from Garnet. The latter nodded and stepped into the apartment, allowing Pearl inside as well. When the door was shut and locked behind them, Garnet asked Amethyst to pause her game with a tone that shot something strange and nervous through her veins.

“I don't… know how to say this, but I–” The next words _burned_ on her tongue. The smoke from them seemed to clog her airways in a final attempt to keep them from spilling out.

“I can't be with eith– either of you anymore.” She stumbled over her words anyway, feeling nausea in the pit of her stomach at what she was doing. Two pairs of shocked and confused eyes met hers from different points in the room.

No one said anything for a long moment.

_Breathe in._

_Breathe out._

_Breathe in-_

Amethyst spoke to break the heavy silence first, a denial ridden little laugh in her lips.

The hope in Garnet’s chest plummeted to her stomach like cracking ice before she could even speak.

“Nice one, P. I almost thought you were serious for a sec.” Her optimism made Pearl’s eyes shut as she dropped her head downward and clenched her fists at her sides, knowing she was willingly giving up the two best things to ever happen to her because of–

She had never _hated_ Rose until that moment.

“I _am_ serious.” She choked out, and was embarrassed, but not surprised, to feel the burn of tears behind her eyelids. She blinked them back for a moment before looking up again, her eyes still shiny.

“I thought… I was over Rose and ready to– to move on from her, but–” The carefully blank, detached look on Garnet’s face probably hurt her the most. Physically watching her withdraw from emotional pain that _she_ caused took to her heart like a serrated edge.

“It's not fair, to either of you, to keep feeling how I do about her and date you too.” She spoke just loud enough for them to hear her, and Amethyst’s face flashed with several painful emotions before she turned her head away and looked down at the floor instead. A bitter laugh floated from her lips as she leaned back into the couch and crossed her arms behind her head.

“Well, ‘least you didn't cheat on us!” The smile on her face was terribly sarcastic. She gritted her teeth around harsher words building in her brain that she knew Pearl didn't deserve. She surprised herself with her ability to force maturity in the situation, even though she knew she’d be putting Garnet back together for months after this. That alone almost made her furious enough to tell Pearl what she _really_ thought– but that wouldn't help anyone.

“Unless you did. Then I mean, thanks for at least having the guts to come dump us right after.” The words soared through the air, sharp and bitter. Pearl’s eyes were watery, but Amethyst’s were too and refused to meet her gaze. Garnet hadn't said a word yet, her dual colored eyes unfocused and facing the wall the couch sat towards.

“I didn't! I didn't… I just– don't want anyone to get hurt down the line because of the feelings I still have for her.” She forced out, facing Garnet now with hopes that she'd at least _look_ at her.

When she finally did, Pearl wished she hadn't.

Blue and brown eyes were empty when they turned to her, a chilling abyss where nothing but adoration and tenderness had resided before. The thought that _she_ caused that in Garnet made the first sob push its way up her throat, but she forced it back down before it could come to life. She couldn't stop the tears that streaked down her cheeks, through.

“Is that all?” Garnet asked, an eyebrow raised over blank eyes as she moved toward the front door again.

“Y–yes. That's it.” Pearl got out, her voice now noticeably watery, cracking on her words.. Garnet opened the front door again and leaned her weight onto the doorknob as she seemed to be waiting for Pearl to leave. The realization made her heart hurt, but she understood nonetheless. She dragged her feet slightly, as if she could make her last moments with these two women last longer if he did so. As soon as both of her feet were across the threshold, the door shut with surprising calmness behind her, and then she was alone.

* * *

“Garnet…” Amethyst called quietly in the aftermath of silence ringing through the room. She almost wished she hadn't muted the television when Pearl came in; at least there would be _something_ filling the tense nothingness.

The look on Garnet’s face was horribly familiar, even though she'd seen it herself a grand total of three times.

It was enough to sear itself into her brain forever, it was so heartbreaking. It was the same look she'd had when she first arrived at the foster care group home for children Amethyst had grown up in, both of her mothers dead and not a family member left to care for her.

The same look years later that some kids tended to get after being bounced from possible family to possible family and nothing good ever working out, ending up right back in the group home she had started in with more emotional scars than she left with.

The same look she'd held in her eyes that final time her adoption didn't pan out, walking back through the group home doors with a bandage wrapped around her head that was later revealed to be covering a nasty forehead gash that had scarred far less than everyone expected it to.

The look was past defeat, past helplessness– it was utter apathy.

Dissociation forced by repeated disappointment and abandonment.

A look that Amethyst had _promised_ would never cross her face again as long as they were together the second they decided to run away.

“Hm?” Garnet hummed, raising an eyebrow when she turned to look at her girlfriend. Amethyst slowly stood from the couch, realizing the irony in her desire to be able to hold strong for Garnet back on Thanksgiving coming to fruition in one of the worst ways possible. Amethyst took several steps forward, her shorter legs meaning that she covered less ground in a single stride, until she was right in front of Garnet’s worryingly still body.

“Garnet, don't go to that place. We have to deal with this together.” She quietly pleaded, gripping chubby hands around the taller woman’s arms, which had come to fold across her chest. Brown and blue eyes moved from hers to unfocus somewhere above her head and her thick brows pulled together in concern.

“I know this shit hurts, ‘specially because there's...there's nothing we can really _do_ about it, but as much as it doesn't feel like it, I know the last thing Pearl wanted to do was hurt us.” The words coming from her mouth felt like the right ones to say, even though her own bitter feelings toward what just happened didn't even allow herself to believe them yet. Garnet calmly pulled her weight away, turning on her heels and making her way to their bedroom.

Amethyst stood where she was for a moment, slight panic over not knowing what to do fluttering in her chest until it moved to her feet and drove them forward after Garnet’s back. She found her again standing beside her end of the bed, lips pursed and a faraway look in her eyes as she lowered herself down to sit. Amethyst stood in the doorway and opened her mouth, sorting frantically through her mind for anything she could say to make this better.

“We still have each other. I’m not going anywhere, and you know that. We were fine before her, we’ll be fine now.” Comforting Garnet wasn't something she had much experience with considering she was typically on the other end of this interaction, but when her girlfriend’s gaze finally refocused and shifted the world back into view until Amethyst was perfectly clear through the fog of apathy– something in her heart fluttered at being able to bring her back.

“It _is_ fine. I’m fine.” Garnet shrugged, bringing a hand up to bury itself in the curls atop her head nonchalantly.

Amethyst took another step forward.

“Garnet… you're not. And it's okay not to be, like, sometimes shit hurts and you gotta acknowledge it at least– shrugging it off and pretending it doesn't affect you isn't healthy.” Amethyst worried her bottom lip between her teeth as she waited for Garnet to say something. Instead, she shook her head and laughed a bit– a quiet, amused sound.

“If she’s still in love with Rose, then she's still in love with Rose. Like you said, nothing we can do about it. It happened. It's over.” Garnet’s voice wasn't it's typical monotone; an edge of laughter tainted her words as if the situation were humorous, further proving what Amethyst observed about her removing herself so far from the proper emotional response that she visibly showed the exact opposite.

Her eyebrows drew together with worry.

“No…” She took a few more steps forward until she stood in front of her sitting form, right between her legs hanging off the edge of the bed.

“Pearl _broke up_ with us, Garnet. She's gone. She's still in love with Rose and didn't want to hurt us, so she _left._ You gotta let that sink in, G. It's okay to feel something. Those emotions that you're shoving down? You can let them out. I’m right here with you.” The sincerity in her tone and eyes drew Garnet’s attention. A flicker of something in her demeanor made Amethyst think she was getting somewhere.

A heavy swallow, a tick of her jaw.

Garnet tried to look away.

Amethyst gripped her jaw just firmly enough to turn her face forward.

“Look at me. It's _okay_ . She left like a shit ton of people have done to us before, and it's okay to feel what feels like. We can deal with it _together_. We always have. You gotta let it out, G.” She pleaded.

Garnet met her eyes again, her look of indifference crumpling into a flash of white hot sadness before she turned her head away, yanking it from Amethyst’s grip and drawing in a deep breath that released into a shuddering sigh. The next breath out of her mouth was a watery one, and suddenly she was hunched forward, face in her hands, with her jaw locked tight around what might have been sobs had they gotten released. Instead the tears flowed freely into her palms and Amethyst’s heart broke at the sight of Garnet so upset. She sat on the bed beside her and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend, pressing kisses to the small part of her cheek left uncovered by her fingers and her forehead until she pulled her hands away from her eyes and turned to look at Amethyst.

The mere sight of Garnet's watery eyes made her want to rip Hell from its roots and personally unleash it on the source– but knowing that she had been that source before, that Pearl was the source now, turned her raging fury cold.

She cupped Garnet’s cheek.

“You're safe.” She murmured through the small space between them and pressed their foreheads together, brushing her cheekbone with a thumb when Garnet closed her eyes in response to the contact.

“Please don't leave.” Garnet whispered, voice cracking on her own sorrow. The sound shot a heavy ache through Amethyst's veins, her own pain over the situation budding alongside Garnet’s.

“I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.” She responded in the breath of space between their lips, merely holding on together, suspended in their cloud of existence. Garnet leaned forward just so, as if pressing their lips together would further solidify that Amethyst was right there with her and wasn't leaving any time soon. Their lips pressed into each other once, twice until finally colliding in a mixture of hot skin and salty tears. Amethyst couldn't tell at what point she herself had started crying, but all she cared about was that Garnet finally was, too. That quiet moment of _being_ ratcheted into something primal and frantic with a swiftness that neither anticipated, the need to be connected to Amethyst, the need to feel something _good_ in the midst of turmoil became so urgent in Garnet that she pressed even harder.

Gripped even firmer.

Kissed even deeper.

Amethyst knew what she wanted, and she felt an innate desire to give it to her in the heat of whirring emotions intensifying everything around them. She pulled away only to shove Garnet’s torso down onto the mattress, swinging one of her thick thighs over her hips until she had her pinned. Garnet’s curls pressed against the bed and flattened out around her head as they splayed out and framed her face. Amethyst wrestled both of her groping hands up until they were over her head, bringing their faces back together so that she could capture full lips with her own. Her grip around Garnet’s wrists was painfully tight, the way she knew she liked it, and when she slid her tongue between Garnet’s lips, she swallowed her answering moan.

The wide hips beneath hers pushed upward, sending a jolt of heat through her that chased out the lingering chill of sorrow. Amethyst pulled away for a breath, catching it while she dragged her teeth down Garnet’s neck to her collarbone. Her ragged breaths felt like fire on Garnet’s skin, and the sharp bite she placed right above her breast made the chest below her stutter.

She wished they had stopped to turn the dimmed lights on before this started; the desire to watch red marks bloom beneath Garnet’s dark skin was almost too much to handle.

She placed another bite further down through her shirt and the whine at the back of her girlfriend’s throat drove her to hold her wrists with one hand while her free one snaked down between their bodies and lifted her hips up to free Garnet’s too large shirt from between their bodies, bunched it up past her breasts, and revealed the tantalizing sight of only a pair of panties beneath. Her skin felt like silk beneath her fingertips and the primal force behind Amethyst’s movements that told her to _take, take, take_ made her ache to give Garnet everything she wanted done to her body right then.

White teeth descended onto a dark nipple with a force that made Garnet cry out in surprise more than anything, and her breaths came out in puffs of air while Amethyst swirled her tongue around the bud. Her free hand tweaked the other one with more enthusiasm than precision, and she felt them both harden under her ministrations. Her lips pulled from Garnet’s nipple with a _pop_ before she teased the other one with her tongue the same way. Amethyst's teeth dragged to the skin above her nipple and nipped it sharply. The answering hitch of breath sent a wave of satisfaction through her. Her tongue flattened to soothe the reddened spot before she pulled away and connected their lips once again.

Garnet’s back arched upward, aching for _more_ and _more_ until Amethyst's free hand scratched down her torso, short nails leaving raised marks down her skin. The pain shot pleasure straight to the growing heat between Garnet’s legs and forced her hips upward and into Amethyst's. The curly haired woman on top of her groaned at the friction and let Garnet’s hands go so that she could slide down to her knees on the floor between her legs. Smaller hands gripped thick thighs roughly, yanking them closer and apart until Garnet’s covered center sat before her, calling her mouth forward. The spot of growing dampness slicking the boy shorts to her lower lips may as well have been a siren to her tongue.

“If you move your hands, I’ll stop. Keep ‘em up there.” She breathed against the heat before her, watching for Garnet’s nod of understanding before she leaned forward and ran her tongue up the visible slit through her underwear. Garnet’s lips spread beneath her tongue, and the dampness between her arousal and Amethyst's mouth outlined her swollen clit and practically begged Amethyst's tongue to caress it through the thin material. Amethyst’s hands moved to press Garnet’s hips down into the mattress so that she wouldn't buck upward, as much as she wanted to. Her teeth grazed over Garner’s throbbing clit, dark eyes looking upward to find two dual colored ones looking down into her own with parted lips and blown pupils.

Garnet shifted her hips downward experimentally, eyes never leaving the smoldering pair of brown ones between her legs, and keened wantonly when one of Amethyst's hands left her hips to hook into her wet underwear and peel it away from soaked lips. Amethyst licked from her entrance to her clit in one broad stroke and the high pitched noise that left Garnet’s mouth was like a drug to Amethyst’s ears. The taller woman threw her neck back and squeezed her hands together above her head to keep them from reaching down her pulling Amethyst closer somehow. A tongue circled her clit slowly, teasingly, until it sped up without warning and full lips wrapped around it to send a jolt of pleasure through Garnet’s every nerve.

Her legs locked around Amethyst's shoulders of their own volition, rolling her hips downward toward the tongue that now moved down her slit and licked into her entrance agonizingly slow. A throaty moan filled the room as Amethyst finally stopped teasing the skin there and brought her hand between them to plunge two fingers deep into gripping heat.

Curvy hips jutted upward toward the feeling of fingers buried inside and a tongue back on her clit, digging her nails into her own palms to keep her hands up where Amethyst demanded she leave them. Amethyst’s free hand dug its own nails into the skin of Garnet’s hip to keep them pinned to the bed, but the five separate shots of pain only made her grind even more. Amethyst pulled her mouth away from the throbbing clit on her tongue and landed a harsh bite on the inside of Garnet’s thigh, a familiar warning to behave, as she thrusted her fingers deeper into wet heat with a force that bowed Garnet’s back into a perfect arch.

The _sound_ of her fingers sliding, twisting, curling, drove them both into a frenzy.

The powerful thighs around her shoulders clenched around her head as the body beneath her locked up for a long, buzzing moment of pure euphoria–

And then crashed down with a rush of wetness on her thick fingers, a cry on Garnet’s lips that resonated through Amethyst's bones with satisfied finality. She slowed her fingers until Garnet came down from orgasmic bliss, and then finally removed them when she relaxed into a pool of skin and bones on the mattress.

Their combined pants were the only noises for a long time.

Amethyst slowly stood from between endless legs and crawled up over Garnet’s body on the bed to straddle the taller woman’s stomach. Brown and blue eyes blinked open halfway, hooded in how they followed her every move. Amethyst brought her slick fingers to Garnet’s lips, dizzying eye contact and the single word, “Open.” being all that was needed for full lips to part beneath her hand. Amethyst slipped her index and middle fingers into Garnet’s mouth, shivering in delight when she felt her hot tongue clean her own wetness from her fingers. Garnet’s cheeks hollowed as she sucked them until Amethyst pulled them free with a wet  _pop_.

They sat there, staring at each other in the aftermath of their pleasure in giving and receiving, and the tension and pain from before seemed to have dissipated with the way calm settled over them.

The stillness was comforting.

“Ame?” Garnet breathed eventually, drawing her girlfriend’s attention from the haze she had settled under.

Amethyst hummed in response.

“I love you.”

Amethyst smiled a bit, a swirling mixture of joy and sadness in her chest, and the hands resting on Garnet’s stomach held on just a little bit tighter.

“I know you do. I love you, too.”

And knowing that Garnet meant those three words…

Well, maybe some things would be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who skipped the smut: Amethyst comforts Garnet in the best way she knows how, and the way that Garnet seems to respond to the most- sex. In the end, after their passions have settled and they exist in that intimate moment, Garnet honestly tells Amethyst she loves her. Amethyst finally believes this entirely and says she loves her, too. She thinks that maybe they can make it through the day's heartbreak after all, together.  
> -  
> Thanks for everyone who commented last chapter and let me know where you all stood on smut (y'all probably didn't think it would be angsty yet here we are :) ). A great majority of you all said you were actually hoping for smut, so awesome. There may be more fluffy smut down the line, but we'll see how this writes itself. And also thanks for the really kind words about last chapter as well. They mean the world to me. 
> 
> As always, comment and let me know what you thought and/or come talk to me, ask questions, get updates on the fic, or whatever at my tumblr: bakedgarnet.tumblr.com
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	12. Love's Intervention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl confronts Rose and realizes the consequences of her decision.

The next morning was quiet.

Pearl might have even called it quaint had she not been on the verge of crying into her tea-filled Santa Claus mug at any given moment. Rose had yet to understand what was wrong, and she couldn't be faulted for that either. Pearl had still neglected to explain her reaction the day before as well as her incessant sobbing while locked in her bedroom that night. Greg looked at her like she was a breath away from shattering when he passed her in the kitchen the next morning. Rose held a perpetual expression of concern and hesitancy– she had no idea what would set Pearl off into a puddle of devastation next.

Well, at least she finally came out of her room.

Pearl couldn't even indulge in her daily disgust with Greg and Rose’s puppy love because she was so upset.

Ruminating over how you gave up the two best girlfriends you've ever had because of feelings for a woman who would never be able to treat you as well as they did could do that to a person.

_Stupid, stupid, st–_

“Pearl, do you want some toast?” Rose asked hesitantly from the opposite side of the medium sized kitchen. Her large frame hovered beside the toaster with a bag of bread slices in her hand. The bag was decorated in green and red stripes; little reindeer flew up the side of the plastic as a part of the company’s Christmas marketing. Blue eyes raised with impressive lethargy, finally locking onto the offered food with a deep sigh pushing through her lips without her permission. She blinked.

Once.

Twice.

“No.” She grumbled and cast her eyes back down toward the stainless steel of the island counter.

“Man, who dumped _you_?” Greg commented from by the refrigerator offhandedly, a grimace on his face from merely observing her state of melancholy. The words weren't meant to be literal, but within the context of why Pearl was so displeased with everything–

Consider his words to be the metaphorical breath that could shatter her fragile state.

Her eyes squeezed shut against a fresh onslaught of tears, and disheveled strawberry blonde hair became the only thing the couple could see when Pearl buried her head into her arms folded atop the counter. Her crying was almost unnoticeable had it not been for the slight shaking of her shoulders.

“Yeesh…” Greg muttered and quietly snatched up his guitar case from where it sat by the side door connected to the kitchen, slinging it over his back. He cautiously backed toward the exit after parting from Rose with a quick kiss. She watched him quietly make his way several feet until he was outside with the door closed behind him.

Pearl still noticed.

_Good riddance._

“Pearl, is there something you want to talk about?” Rose tried again, setting the festive package of bread down and moving to stand on the other side of the counter. Blue eyes stayed buried behind thin arms, and bony shoulders rose and fell once without any further response.

“Do you want… to be alone?” Rose asked cautiously.

Nothing.

Pearl’s lack of any reply spoke volumes.

“Alright…” She murmured, tying the bag of bread back up and setting it on the counter.

The reindeer drooped with the unceremonious placement of the bag.

Her fading footsteps alerted Pearl to the solitude she now held, and eventually she raised her head back up to face the empty kitchen.

The only two people she wanted to talk to probably hated her.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid._

Her phone buzzed somewhere to her right and the disarming hope that soared through her chest that maybe Garnet or Amethyst were reaching out–

It was a notification for a software update.

She groaned in disgust over _everything_ and heaved herself up from the island counter stool. She needed to do something.

She needed to fix this.

Pearl pulled herself together enough to look at her options. Unfortunately, she couldn't really do anything until she confronted her own feelings about Rose. Which meant that she just might have to sit her down and have a conversation that she dreaded having.

She found the pink haired woman in her and Greg’s bedroom, lounging back against three cushy pillows with the phone in her hand propped up by her stomach.

She looked away from the bright screen when Pearl entered warily.

“We need to talk.”

Rose sat up slowly, locking her phone and placing it face down on her nightstand in order to give Pearl her undivided attention. A soft hand patted the space on the bed beside her large frame for Pearl to take a seat.

She moved to the spot with hesitant determination.

Rose noted the dried tear tracks and stopped herself from reaching out to clean her cheeks.

“...I broke up with both of my girlfriends yesterday.”

The sentence alone was enough to give Rose pause, considering that she hadn't even known Pearl had been in any relationship with one woman, let alone two. At her confused face, Pearl spoke on.

“That's who I’ve been with in all of my free time. We were officially together for two weeks…” Her voice wavered as she remembered how wonderful those two weeks and all those ones before it were, how happy she was.

The looks on their faces when she ended it.

She swallowed down the guilt, though. She was going to make this right if it was the last thing she did.

“I broke up with them because of what happened between us yesterday.” She finally said, and watched with a strange feeling when Rose’s eyebrows nearly reached her hairline in shock. Her round cheeks heated a bit in reaction to the accusation and blame directed her way.

“Pearl… You never told me about them. Greg is fine with me seeing other people; I just haven't had an interest in being with anyone but him until you moved back here.”

Pearl’s face grew hot at this.

“I was under the impression that you were still single– and I’m sorry that flirting with you yesterday made you uncomfortable, but I don't see why you would throw away your relationship over it instead of telling me what was going on.” Rose’s face was a dizzying mixture of confusion and innocence.

Pearl wished she didn't look so angelic.

“Because it wasn't uncomfortable!” She exploded, neck hot and her voice shrill.

“Because I _liked_ it and I thought that I was _over_ you, Rose! I was doing so well with them; everything was perfect. Then you just touched me and I–” Pearl’s voice hitched pathetically and she turned her head away, swiping beneath one eye with a quick finger.

“I just fell apart. Went right back to that torture that loving you was like.” Pearl murmured into the silent air of the bedroom. She could have appreciated the fluffy white duvet beneath her body feeling like heaven were it not for her current life feeling so much like hell.

“Torture?”

Rose’s voice was small in that moment, and when Pearl glanced back up to meet her gaze, she was stunned to see hurt nesting behind those earthy hazel eyes.

“Loving me was… torture.” It wasn't a question. Her eyes dropped down to her hands in her lap and Pearl felt something squeeze at her heart.

“I have to settle this with you– get some sort of closure so that we both can move on. This can't happen between us anymore.” Pearl’s last sentence was a whisper, and she reached forward to grab one of Rose’s larger hands from her lap and grasp it with her own.

“But you'll always be my best friend.”

Hazel eyes blinked up from their hands to meet blue ones at last and Rose’s nod was all the confirmation she needed that things really would be okay.

 

They talked for hours.

 

Between rehashing the flaws in their old relationship and establishing brand new boundaries for their new, platonic one–

Everything was running much more smoothly than Pearl could have ever anticipated. Rose was wonderfully receptive and willing to work with Pearl to make sure she could move on with the two women she had been introduced to at the bar so many weeks ago. When she found out _they_ were the girlfriends Pearl had, well, the unadulterated excitement for her had been adorable to say the least.

Getting all of her feelings and grievances off of her chest had Pearl feeling like a brand new woman by the time she and Rose’s conversation had died down. The tension that had previously hung in the room was now nonexistent in their joined space. A content smile curved the corner of Pearl’s lips when she left Rose’s bedroom mid afternoon.

She had to call Garnet or Amethyst.

Silent feet made their way to her brightly sun-lit bedroom and Pearl dived into her bed with renewed joy and determination. If she could only explain and let them know that the situation was fixed; they could finally put this all behind them–

_Ring_

_Ring_

_Ri–_

Voicemail.

Pearl blinked at the screen when she pulled it away from her ear, partially surprised, though sure she shouldn't be, that Amethyst sent her to voicemail. With a breath and still thriving hopefulness, she tried Garnet’s phone instead.

_Ring_

_Ring_

_Ring_

_Ring_

_Ring_

_Ring_

Voicemail.

Okay, so Garnet was either letting her go to voicemail on her own, or she was busy. She didn't have work today, and Amethyst was surely at home–

Pearl caught the glint from the sunlight on her car keys as she had the day before and rolled off the bed to scoop them up. Glancing down at her attire, she figured she should probably wear something other than crinkled, tear stained pajamas to go get her girlfriends back.

Sporting a rarely worn leather jacket over a plain white crop top and pristine, dark high waisted jeans, Pearl was out the door.

Rose watched her leave once more, this time with a beaming smile and words of good luck on her full lips.

* * *

 

Pearl reached the front of their familiar apartment with the beginnings of trepidation in her gut. The thirty minute drive to their home was long enough for the eagerness to wane into anxiousness. What if everything went horribly wrong? What if what she did yesterday was irreversible?

She swallowed heavily and searched for Garnet’s last name on the list of residents with buttons for doorbells beside each. Finding ‘Carter,’ she pressed her nimble, manicured finger against the button and waited. Two minutes had passed and she pressed it again, chewing at her bottom lip anxiously. Almost immediately, an aggravated voice– Amethyst’s– rang through the intercom.

_“Who is it?”_

“It's… It's me. Pearl.”

A beat passed before the door buzzed open to let her inside. She pushed the handle gently and stepped into the warmth of the building. Taking the stairs two at a time, she finally reached Garnet and Amethyst’s apartment door. The other side was filled with erratic thumps on the floor and hushed curses punctuated by… giggles? When the door swung open, Amethyst was standing on the other side of it with wildly dishevelled curls and her shirt hanging crookedly on her body. Her jeans were unbuttoned.

Pearl was speechless for a lengthy moment.

“You gonna just stand there, or are you gonna tell me what the hell you’re here for?” Amethyst prodded, thick brows creasing with annoyance. Pearl’s mouth opened and closed as she tried to remember all of the possible words she could say that she went over on the car ride there. Absently, she peered over Amethyst’s head to look into the living room, hoping for some sign of Garnet.

She didn't see her.

“I– uh…” Pearl took a deep breath and stared straight into dark brown eyes.

“Can I talk with you and Garnet. It's important.” She finally got out, and Amethyst shut her eyelids in what seemed to be a physical resistance to rolling her eyes. With a sigh, she stepped back and let her through the front door, locking it shut behind her. Amethyst vaguely gestured for Pearl to take a seat on the couch while she went back toward the bedroom to get Garnet, Pearl presumed.

Hushed words floated indecipherably into the living room and eventually Amethyst returned alone, this time with her shirt straightened out and her pants buttoned up. Her wild sex hair was still untamed, and Pearl couldn't help the strange feeling that twisted her stomach into knots at what that hair meant.

“She's sleeping.” Amethyst said with a shrug as she leaned against the wall by the door, foot propped behind her and arms crossed.

“I just heard her voice, Amethyst.” Pearl sighed, brows drawing together in display of her pleading. A long moment passed before Amethyst released a mirthless little chuckle.

“Dude, she doesn't want to talk to you. Whatever you came here for, you can talk to just me or you can leave.” Her tone was neutral, but the words felt like ice. Pearl’s hands twisted together in front of her stomach as she slowly reassembled her confidence.

“I talked things out with Rose– _really_ talked– about how we need to move on from our unhealthy relationship so that I can be with you and Garnet, but mostly so that I can finally be at peace with myself… I’ve never been as happy as when I was with the both of you– even before we were officially together. I can't throw that away for anything.” Pearl laid her heart bare, looking into Amethyst's eyes across the small living room and _hoping_ that she would understand.

“But you did! Why wouldn't you have that talk with her before you came here yesterday and fucking–” Amethyst's voice increased dramatically in volume, her hands palms upward and splayed, arms out in front of her in a gesture of frustration. Her voice lowered suddenly into a whisper only the two of them could register.

“Garnet has been crying on and off since you fucking left, Pearl!” She whisper-yelled, pushing off the wall and taking an angry step forward with her index finger jabbed in the general direction of Pearl's chest.

“I have _never_ seen her cry this much in my _life_ , and there's only so much comfort she can get from me distracting her.” The reference to the sex they had obviously been having before Pearl returned sent a feeling of guilt flashing through her chest.

“So, no, I’m not letting you do this shit to _either_ of us again. We’ve gone through enough people walking out of our lives without our control to let you do it to us whenever you fucking feel like it.” Amethyst's voice was its normal volume again, but the tone was venom across the room.

“Amethyst, it wasn't like that!” Pearl pleaded, eyes wide and sad. Panic was setting in her veins now that her plan had gone sideways– she _had_ to get Amethyst to understand.

“Oh, it _wasn't_ like you just up and decided that you weren't ready for a relationship with us? It _wasn't_ like you fucking _knew_ you had issues you needed to address with Rose, and you just _didn't_ until _after_ you came here and broke up with us?” Amethyst paused with a humorless laugh of disbelief, throwing her hands back into her hair as she gripped at her scalp.

“Garnet _loves_ you, man! Do you know how serious that is? You know her pretty well by now, please tell me how you think she _feels_!” Amethyst's last rhetorical sentence was doused in fury. Her brown cheeks tinted red with the heat of their argument.

“I thought I was over Rose! You want know what happened yesterday? I was sitting on the couch, watching you and Garnet in the group chat, and Rose came and sat beside me to talk about how much she missed me– missed _us_. Yes, truthfully I felt some part of me respond to her, but nothing happened except for me realizing that I still felt _something_ for her! I felt awful about what those feelings meant for me, you, and Garnet’s relationship, so I came here and ended things, but that didn't make me feel less guilty– nothing did until I talked to her and we straightened everything out. I did all of this because I didn't want to hurt either of you!” Pearl was breathless by the time she finished with the rush she pushed her words out with.

Amethyst stood with her lips parted and an indecipherable look on her face for a long moment before her head suddenly turned to face the doorway on the adjacent wall. Pearl's attention was directed there as well, and as a result she saw Garnet standing in the doorway in nothing but one of Amethyst's t-shirts, underwear and her dark glasses.

Her hair was braided back into seven large cornrows, much like it had been at Pearl’s childhood home, that stopped at her shoulder blades. The house was fairly dim, so Pearl could only assume the glasses were to hide red and puffy eyes.

“Why didn't you just say that?” Garnet’s voice was rough, and Amethyst gravitated toward her side instinctively, a feeling of protectiveness washing over her.

“Of course you'd feel something when your last love says they miss your relationship– that doesn't mean the time you spent with us was a lie. We could've talked about all of that. Together.” Garnet kept her voice low to avoid it cracking– apparently that's one of the things that happens when you cry all night.

She wasn't familiar with the feeling.

Pearl slumped in her seat, regret and defeat rising like a wave in her chest in reaction to Garnet’s undone appearance and her own lack of foresight to what her actions would cause. Her head hung slightly and she looked up through her lashes at the two women in front of her.

“I’m _so_ sorry.” She sighed, her hands gripping at each other with almost bruising force. Garnet stood still for a long moment before brushing at her eyes from beneath her glasses and then pushing them up to the top of her head. Pearl’s gut twisted at the sight of her bloodshot gaze. Amethyst's hand slipped into Garnet’s and she seemed to squeeze back in response as she spoke again.

“So what do you want here?” Garnet asked tiredly, bringing her index and thumb fingers from her free hand up to rub at her forehead. The throbbing behind her temples was distracting. Pearl stood slowly, letting her hands drop to her sides.

“I want both of you– and for us to be happy again. I never considered that what I thought I was doing to spare you two would just make everything worse… So, what I’m trying to say is– will you take me back? Please?” She pleaded, eyes wide and genuinely afraid of their answers. Garnet and Amethyst looked at each other, seemingly searching the others’ gaze for something specific.

Amethyst looked away first, lips pursed and an unreadable look in her eyes.

Garnet was the only one to look Pearl in the eye, and the blonde was so grateful that the look of absence was gone from her gaze, replaced with a swarm of emotions that had not resided there previously.

Amethyst spoke first.

“Whatever Garnet chooses is up to her. I can't trust you with my own feelings right now, Pearl. Shit, I don't even trust you with Garnet’s– but that's not my decision to make. Sorry. I need more time.” She muttered, shaking her head slightly and stepping around Garnet’s taller body to head into their shared bedroom. The silence that followed the door slamming behind her rang like sirens inside of Pearl’s ears.

Garnet stood looking after Amethyst with a pained look in her eyes, arms crossed over her chest, and then she finally turned her gaze back to Pearl. It took a moment for her to find her words.

“If you're not one-hundred percent sure you want to try this relationship again, you need to say so right now.” Pearl blinked back the tears that prickled behind her eyes at Amethyst's departure and turned blue eyes to look at Garnet with all of the sincerity in the world.

“There's not a doubt in my mind.” She expressed honestly, holding her arms across her body as if she could keep herself together that way. Garnet studied her for a long while, pushing a breath out through her lips and nodding finally.

She uncrossed her arms.

“Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like these three are going to have to find a way to cope with Pearl's actions. Thank everyone who left a comment last chapter! I'm glad the overall reaction to the smut was (very) positive and it was great reading everyone's reactions to Pearl's choice. As always I'm so grateful for the support you all continue to give to this fic. I can't thank you all enough, really. 
> 
> Let me know what you thought of this chapter in a comment and/or come talk to me on my tumblr: bakedgarnet.tumblr.com You can get updates and little treats regarding this fic there (amidst other SU content). 
> 
> Comment your headcannons for this fic or send them to me in an ask on tumblr and I'll confirm or deny them! I'd love to hear what you all think :)


	13. Reconciliation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet and Pearl go on a date and Christmas Eve comes with an unexpected gift.

The door chimed every odd half an hour with a patron entering or exiting the little cafe downtown. A constant murmur of conversation and old indie rock songs were the only things keeping Garnet and Pearl from sitting in complete silence. Long fingers picked at the rickety table, worn down for aesthetic much more than with actual use, and Garnet frowned at the crumbs left behind by whomever sat there before her.

The window to her left allowed the harsh sunlight reflecting off of the fresh layer of snow to hit directly at her covered eyes, and, even with her shades, the glare was distracting. Pearl fidgeted with her fingers splayed out on the tabletop, her pinky occasionally brushing the steaming cup of chai tea she had ordered– paid for by Garnet much to her own displeasure. She felt bad enough with everything that had happened recently without her girlfriend–her only girlfriend– buying her drinks. The idea of only dating Garnet was so strange and foreign that she couldn't wrap her mind around it right away. For so long they had been Garnet _and_ Amethyst.

A unit.

A couple.

Well, they were still very much a couple. She was excluded from that– the ability to date them both.

Her chest still squeezed every time she remembered why.

“This is awkward.” Garnet stated calmly, dragging her gaze up from the tabletop to look into sad blue eyes across from her. Pearl could see her reflection clearly in Garnet’s shades and she felt much smaller than she looked.

“I’m trying.” Pearl responded immediately, but paused at the slight pursing of Garnet’s full lips.

“None of us will be able to move on if you don't stop looking at the past and start looking toward the future.”

Pearl analyzed Garnet’s deceptively serene face, though she admittedly couldn't tell as much as she wanted to with the most expressive part of it covered by her glasses. She exhaled slowly.

“I know…Sor–”

“And please stop apologizing, Pearl.” Garnet sighed and leaned back in her chair, cocking her head to the side a bit as she watched her girlfriend’s cheeks grow red. Pearl puffed out her cheeks for a moment then released the air through plump lips. She shot Garnet an apologetic smile and folded her hands atop the table.

“How was work?”

Garnet shrugged a bit and leaned forward again, propping her elbows up on the table and cradling her chin in one palm.

Pearl could only imagine what those disarming pair of eyes looked like behind the shades. She wished they had picked a spot out of the sun so that Garnet could take her glasses off.

“Slow. They've opened some greasy, unhealthy burger place across the street– it's the only one for miles– and I guess people would rather that than anything healthy from a protein bar.” She chuckled a bit to herself, as if there was some inside joke only she was in on, and continued.

“We get our regulars still, though. There's a college student who comes almost every time I’m on my shift who reminds me a lot of you.”

Pearl’s eyebrows raised a bit, eyes growing wide at the information.

“Really? In what way?” The urge to ask if the comparison was a good or bad one was great, but she knew she would have to stop her self-deprecating thoughts if she wanted to get through their date in peace.

“Tall. Pretty. She's always giving elaborate facts on whatever comes up in conversation, like you do when you're nervous. She sits right across from the registers when she eats, and she gets this look in her eyes like you do when you're in thought when she's trying to figure out her assignments. Like she's completed the entire thing in her head in two different ways and just needs to decide how to get it down on paper.” Garnet chuckled again and reached across the table to intertwine her fingers with Pearl’s.

“She flirts much better than you, though.” Garnet grinned teasingly and Pearl cracked a smile as a breathy little laugh breezed through her lips. God, she loved listening to Garnet talk.

Pearl turned Garnet’s palm upward and traced the tattoo there with a feather light thumb.

“Well, I have one thing she doesn't.” Pearl smiled, really smiled, for the first time in a while and Garnet knew she never wanted to go so long without seeing it ever again.

“Yes, you do.” Garnet grinned even wider and turned the dainty fingers in her hand over to bring them up to her full lips. Pearl blushed as Garnet’s lips made contact with her knuckles.

She couldn't believe this stunning woman loved her. The only thing was that she could hardly wait for her to say so herself.

“I haven't heard you or Amethyst say anything about the band lately.” Pearl observed. She had been wondering for quite some time, though with all of the recent drama it had entirely slipped her mind to ask.

“We’re on a break for now. Ame thinks she's got a contact who can get us into a studio soon– uploading songs recorded in Vidalia’s garage to Soundcloud is fun and all, but… why settle?” Garnet shrugged, a small smile playing at the corner of her lips and Pearl wanted nothing more than to lean across the table and kiss it off of her. Her moment of romantic fantasy was short lived, however, because she soon remembered that the empty spot beside Garnet should have been filled by Amethyst, and the knowledge that her _ex_ – Pearl cringed at the word– couldn't even stand to be around her now quickly soured her mood. Garnet noticed the shift.

“Pearl?”

“Has she asked about me?” Pearl questioned softly, blue eyes glued to the table below.

“Give her time. Ame may be great at holding grudges, but she really likes you. Just give her a while to cool off– and to learn to trust you again.”

Pearl wrapped one hand around the now lukewarm cup of chai tea and brought it to her lips to hide her frown of disappointment. She had really taken the time to analyze her relationships with Garnet and Amethyst individually in the past week since everything came to a peak at their apartment. She and Garnet, while toeing the line of sexual tension and casual flirtation expertly, had a dominantly romantic relationship.

She loved Garnet every bit as much as Garnet loved her.

She and Amethyst’s relationship was highly sexual attraction. Pearl had noticed Amethyst's unwillingness to get close to anyone but Garnet when it came to emotions and romance– she never faulted her for that. Though, that fact was going to make winning her back over twice as difficult because while Amethyst may not love her, she absolutely loved Garnet.

And Pearl had trifled with Garnet’s heart no matter how unintentionally.

Which all meant that Amethyst could likely be pissed at her, and not trust her, for an unspeakable amount of time.

She felt sick.

“Okay.” She murmured, swallowing heavily and turning her light eyed gaze out into the snowy afternoon outside of the window.

* * *

Christmas Eve arrived with little fanfare. Garnet had watched Pearl dodge three calls from her mother, all of which ended with voicemails practically threatening her standing among her sisters if she didn't come home over the holiday. Amethyst had grudgingly agreed to go ice skating with them when Pearl asked. She would say it was because she hadn't spent a Christmas Eve without Garnet in years and didn't feel right breaking that tradition if asked, but they all knew the true reason.

Amethyst missed Pearl– a confession so simple, yet so intricate in its meaning. She missed her breathy little laughs and her expressive hands and face– she missed kissing her and the ensuing look of unadulterated frustration that turned her cheeks red and sent her train of whatever elaborate thought haywire. She missed the way she looked at her like she was the reason the sun rises in the morning. It was so hard, though, to forget just why they were hardly on speaking terms as it was. Every time she saw Garnet’s eyes light up at the sight of Pearl’s name flashing across her phone screen a feeling of protectiveness sent her brain into overdrive with all of the ways Pearl could hurt her girlfriend once again.

She couldn't let that happen.

Yet it grew more difficult each day to believe that it would. Pearl respected her wishes to keep distance, but sent Amethyst’s favorite foods home with Garnet when she returned from their dates. She left cute little post-it notes on them sometimes with kind words and stupid little smiley faces.

Those stupid little smiley faces gave her butterflies for fuck’s sake.

Twice she sent back dessert _and_ asked Garnet to turn on a playlist she made when Amethyst had the chance to listen to it.

She made time.

It was so hard to stay angry at someone when they genuinely regretted their actions, and she had more than made it up to Garnet– the only person she had left to redeem herself to was Amethyst.

And Amethyst missed being around her.

So she went ice skating with them both.

Her chubby hands gripped onto Garnet’s strong arm, trying her best to keep up with the two women beside her. Of _course_ Pearl had done competitive ice skating when she was younger, and Garnet, as athletic as she was, could learn far more quickly than Amethyst ever could. Pearl muffled her giggles behind a mitten covered hand and blushed profusely when Amethyst shot a withering glare in her direction. Garnet chuckled quietly, the only tell being the curve of her lips and the rumble through her chest and shoulders.

“This isn't _funny._ ” Amethyst whined from behind her scarf, drawing even more chuckles from Garnet’s lips.

“Here, can I help?” Pearl offered from Garnet’s other arm, a hopeful look in her wide blue eyes that melted any lingering defenses that Amethyst tried so hard to hold up. Grudgingly, she sighed and relented, letting go of Garnet’s coat covered arm and cautiously maneuvering until she was on the other side of Pearl. Other people zoomed past them, some struggling worse than Amethyst and others moving like Olympic skating show offs. Amethyst tried not to watch them.

“Alright, follow my feet.” Pearl instructed, pacing herself even slower for Amethyst's benefit until she gradually began to find her rhythm. Pearl’s breathy laugh cut through her concentrated silence and she looked up to see her eying the death grip she had on her thin arm. Amethyst laughed a bit awkwardly, an apology somewhere mixed within it, but Pearl waved it off with a good natured wink and sped up a bit to see if Amethyst was ready to stop pissing off every group of people behind them who were forced to go around.

“See! You're getting the hang of it!” Pearl cheered her on, drawing a grin along Garnet’s face, reddened by the cold. Amethyst beamed with the praise and moved her hand from Pearl’s arm down to her mittened fingers. Her own gloved hands had gone to interlock their fingers, but Pearl’s mittens were in the way, and it was okay because intertwined fingers were just– too soon, anyway.

Pearl’s hand wrapped around hers instead and Garnet couldn't tell if the redness of her cheeks and ears were from touching Amethyst, or the cold, or both.

Probably both.

She smiled even wider.

“Okay, that doesn't mean take off without me, still!” Amethyst blurted, eying Garnet specifically, who had been the main cause of their fast pace earlier. “If I bust my shit in front of all these people because you're some kinda speed demon, G, I swear I won't fuck you for a month.” Amethyst threatened, her tone lighthearted but the threat frighteningly real. Garnet’s jaw dropped for a moment before she shut it audibly and allowed a smug look to creep into her gaze.

“S’okay. I’ve got Pearl, still.” She taunted with a smirk tugging at her lips in response to Amethyst's scandalized gasp. Pearl’s mouth opened and closed sporadically as she tried to control her breathing and reduce what must have been the most obvious blush from her cheeks to her chest. A near-hysterical laugh bubbled from her lips as Amethyst reached across her and landed a playful smack across Garnet’s coat covered arm.

“Asshole.” Amethyst cackled, momentarily forgetting her fear of falling on her butt amid their banter. Garnet grinned in response and nudged Pearl in her side.

“S’okay, Pearl. Just joking.”

Pearl’s stomach flipped.

She didn't want that to be a joke.

“Holy shit!” Amethyst blurted, attention fully grabbed by the bright _Hot Chocolate_ neon sign flashing from dim to blinding.

“We gotta stop and get– _ah fuck!”_ Amethyst's lack of focus caused her to slip a bit, but thankfully Pearl’s surprisingly sturdy arms caught her under the arm and around the waist before she could go down. She caught a whiff of Pearl’s perfume as she guided her unsteady body back upright– a scent that could only be described as _pretty_ and she gulped when Pearl let go because she missed the thin arms around her body.

Amethyst cleared her throat in an attempt to gather herself, but the redness staining her brown cheeks from the cold was nothing compared to the increased color of her blush. Pearl noticed her flustered response, smiling a bit around a bitten bottom lip. Amethyst huffed and continued her sentence, albeit with much less confidence than before.

“Yeah, ah, we gotta make sure we stop for their hot chocolate. I heard it was, like, amazing…” She revealed awkwardly. Garnet only partially hid her amusement behind her scarf.

“We can go by now before the line gets long. It’ll give you a break from all of that falling– I mean skating– you did.” Pearl teased cheekily, dodging Amethyst's flying elbow before it could land in her side and causing her to stumble.

Chubby hands flew to grip Garnet’s arm out of instinct once Pearl moved out of the way, skating backwards with an airy gracefulness that put the gently dancing flurries of snow to shame. The shit-eating grin spread across her rosy cheeks was one she had picked up from Amethyst specifically, and to see it used on her now gave Amethyst both a feeling of pride and good-natured annoyance.

Garnet wrapped one long arm beneath Amethyst's shoulders, dropping her torso down and scooping her girlfriend up behind her knees until she lay bridal style in her arms. Amethyst rose with a _yelp_ and Pearl giggled while she and Garnet skated toward the exit– toward their much needed hot chocolate. Garnet’s breaths puffed out visibly once they reached the break in the wall surrounding the ice rink. She gingerly set Amethyst on the ground and the curly haired woman was relieved to finally take those God-forsaken death shoes off of her feet.

The trio eventually made their way to the ever growing line and ended up behind five others who had beat them there. The wait was short and sweet, the three of them holding hands with Garnet as a natural mediator in the center. They decided to head back to Garnet and Amethyst's apartment, considering the night was getting later and the temperature was falling lower. Pearl could hardly hold her hot chocolate without shivering hard enough to spill it, and so they left. Pearl shakily tossed Amethyst her car keys, and she was the one to hold her cold hands in one of her warm ones on the ride home.

* * *

Upon entering the house, there was a feeling of reality setting in. Things had been fun and cute at the ice rink; however, the tension between Amethyst and Pearl was blaring in the silence. Garnet noticed.

She excused herself to the bathroom to go take a shower, which prompted Amethyst to automatically follow behind her to join as she typically did– except this time Garnet said she was going alone, flashing a knowing and meaningful glance in Pearl’s direction for Amethyst to follow with her own eyes. Her look of panic went ignored as Garnet winked, that infuriatingly know-all look on her face that said she could see how everything would play out before it did. She took her long strides through their bedroom door to get to the bathroom–

Amethyst’s dark eyes were drawn to the sway of her hips as she left.

With a sigh, bracing herself for whatever happened next, Amethyst returned to the living room from inside of the hallway to spot Pearl daintily sitting in the couch with a bottle of water from the kitchen in her hand. She was taking a long drink from it when Amethyst found her.

“Damn, slow down.” Amethyst laughed a bit, throwing herself into the couch cushion beside Pearl’s. The sound of the shower starting up, droplets of water beating against the tub, filled the otherwise silent house. Pearl brought the bottle away from her lips and smiled a bit with a little shrug.

“Hot chocolate makes me thirsty.”

Amethyst hummed in response and leaned back into the cushions. She stared at the side of Pearl’s face while the taller woman fidgeted with the bottle. Eventually, Pearl turned to look at her with both a curious and guilty gaze; her blue eyes were round as the moon that beamed outside– just as bright and just beautiful.

“Amethyst…” Pearl began, and Amethyst raised her hand to stop her before she could begin. She smiled a little bit, which put Pearl more at ease, though she wasn't expecting what she said next.

“Don't apologize again, P. I forgive you.” At Pearl’s stunned silence, Amethyst continued.

“I’ve had a while to think about everything and, like, see some shit from your point of view– Garnet mostly helped me with that part– but even though I don't _agree_ with what you did, I get why you did it, and I know you won't do it again.” Pearl was nodding profusely when she finished, so relieved to hear those words from Amethyst’s mouth that she nearly leaned forward and stole her lips right then.

“Amethyst, thank you so much.” Pearl murmured, the fluttering in her stomach morphing into the powerful flaps of some winged creature and stirring up all of the feelings she had been keeping at bay around the woman beside her. Amethyst smiled and waved the thanks off, never breaking eye contact with the blue ones in front of her.

“Now that _that's_ out of the way,” She began with a growing mischievous look in her eyes. Pearl’s thin fingers tensed around the bottle of water between her palms.

“I really do like you, P., and I actually really hate not dating you anymore, so…” Pearl’s breath caught in her throat, the plastic bottle creaking in her grip.

“How ‘bout we try this again?” Amethyst asked, a playful grin smearing across her round cheeks as she slid down from the love seat and onto one knee, drawing a nervous and excited laugh from Pearl’s plump lips. Amethyst grabbed one hand away from the bottle and held it in both of hers with a laugh building in her throat as she asked,

“Will you be my girlfriend?”

Pearl nodded through her adorable squeal of excitement as she placed the water on the coffee table and threw herself down from the couch and into Amethyst's arms. They both ended up on the floor, rolling a bit until they could land in a comfortable position. Pearl ended up atop Amethyst’s warm body, and the shorter woman landed kisses from her collarbone to the tip of her sharp nose.

The blush raging on Pearl’s cheeks was nothing compared to the giddiness that radiated between them both, lips meeting in a searing kiss that held all the relief of a migraine fading, or a balloon losing its air. Their mouths melted together, tongues gliding against each other for so long that when Garnet found them nearly fifteen minutes later– curls dripping water onto the towel around her body and droplets skating down her smooth skin– she could only chuckle to herself, turning on her heel and moving to the bedroom to get dressed.

Stars, she loved those two dorks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First and foremost: VERY sorry for this update coming later than I anticipated. Senior year is proving to be very busy.  
> Thanks so much to the amazing comments left on the last chapter, and as always I'm beyond grateful for each of you who take the time to read my writing and support this fic. 
> 
> That being said, this fic is coming to a close pretty soon (not sure how many more chapters), but don't worry! I have a Bad Pearl/Detective Garnet soulmate AU in the works, so for my pearlnet shippers (or fans of my writing in general) that's something to look forward to as well. 
> 
> Let me know what you thought of this chapter in a comment and/or hit me up on my tumblr: bakedgarnet.tumblr.com with any questions or comments (or fan art!!!)


	14. Christmas Miracles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new day, filled with Christmas and new beginnings.

Snow fluttered to the ground in clumps of thick, ivory flurries. The sky was a beaming blue and the sun was just as bright, though the wind whipping through the air like whistles from carefree lips caused a chill that brought out coats, mittens, hats and scarfs.

This was the good snow– the sturdy snow that packed perfectly together into a ball, or rolled just right to make a snowman. It crunched under boots and gleamed bright because the inherent dirt of a city hadn't gotten the chance to mar it yet. It would have been admired by the three bodies sprawled out across each other had they been awake to witness it all.

Instead, three chests rose and fell out of sync– Amethyst’s soft snores highlighted by Garnet’s steady breaths and Pearl’s shallow inhales. Garnet’s strong arms were in their much missed position around her girlfriends. Pearl’s face buried into the crook of her neck and Amethyst's smaller body spooned Pearl from behind. The covers had become disheveled in their slumber, but their combined body heat was enough to keep them all from freezing. Pearl stirred first, which was not at all unusual. She woke to one of her favorite scents of mango and shea butter, automatically inhaling deeper to try and capture the aroma.

She remembered just where she was and smiled, her plump lips spreading against the warm skin of Garnet’s elegant neck. The arms she had wrapped around Garnet in the night begged for blood flow to be restored to them, especially the one buried beneath her taller girlfriend’s waist, but she was far too comfortable to even attempt to move– and risk waking her. Her eyes were the last to register anything. When they finally fluttered open, she saw nothing but smooth, dark skin and the rise and fall of a t-shirt covered, ample chest.

A feeling of giddiness flitted between her stomach and throat like she might cry.

This was what true, pure happiness felt like, and it was within the arms of two women she loved deeply that she found it. The realization that maybe, just maybe, she could learn to find that feeling within herself, too, caused a pricking behind her eyes that she was too stunned to stop in its tracks. The droplets splashed down her nose to her shoulder, eventually sliding between where her arm met Garnet’s and probably landing somewhere on the sheets beneath them. She pressed her lips against the soft skin of Garnet’s neck and mumbled a near-silent “Merry Christmas.”

She was shocked to notice that chest vibrate just the slightest amount with a quiet, sleepy laugh.

“Merry Christmas to you, too.” Garnet sighed groggily, a smile tugging at her full lips. Pearl gasped a bit in surprise, but then that long neck was pulled away from her face and she was eye to eye with a stunning pair of mismatched ones instead. Garnet’s thumb rose to brush the stray tear streaks from Pearl’s cheek after a long moment of comforting silence.

“Why’s it every time we wake up together you're cryin’?” Garnet chuckled jokingly, landing a sweet kiss on the smooth skin of Pearl’s forehead. She couldn't help her smile at Garnet’s words and shook her head against the pillow beneath her.

“Just– happy.” Pearl beamed and Garnet couldn't stop herself from leaning forward and capturing those grinning lips in a kiss that made her feel like the inside of a shaken up soda can with _love_. She loved Pearl– she loved her so much. Before she could even catch her breath enough to push the words from the tip of her tongue and out to the air between them, Pearl beat her to it.

“I love you, Garnet. I’m _in_ love with you.” She whispered breathlessly into the silence of the room.

Garnet, for once, was left speechless in a way that was not at all by choice. Breaking out of her stupor, she smiled with a light that put the beaming sun to shame– a beauty that only existed in the heaven that Pearl’s parents believed in so adamantly– and, for a long moment, Pearl began to wonder if maybe Angels _were_ real.

If she was looking into the bright eyes of one now, then she guessed that maybe death wasn't too bad after all.

“I’m in love with you, too.” Garnet breathed immediately before capturing Pearl’s lips again, and for a long while the only sound, aside from Amethyst's quiet snores, were the soft noises of their kissing lips.

* * *

It had been a bit of a stretch requesting that they spend Christmas Day at Rose’s house. The only reason Pearl asked was because her best friend consistently went all out with decorations for any holiday, but especially Christmas. Rose was more than happy to have them spend such a beautiful time of year with herself and Greg, and so she was as convincing as always when Pearl handed the phone over to Amethyst and Garnet so they could all make arrangements. Considering that Garnet and Amethyst never particularly had the money to go cash out on decorations, not even a Christmas tree for their gifts, they eventually agreed.

This was how the trio ended up curled against each other on Rose’s three person couch in front of a flat screen playing Christmas specials back to back and a beaming tree that glanced the surface of the ceiling in the corner. Rose glided into the room with a tray of steaming hot chocolate and a pile of homemade cookies stacked atop a paper plate, Greg following on her heels.

She slid the plate down onto the center of the coffee table and sat on the end opposite her couch with her large legs crossed daintily on the floor. Greg plopped himself down beside her with much less grace and propped his elbow on the glass, his round chin resting heavily in his palm with a lazy grin on his cheeks. Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl had been far more enthralled with each other than the Charlie Brown Christmas special playing on Rose’s decent sized television, so they hardly minded that their view of it was now blocked.

The three were murmuring amongst each other, the conversation sprinkled with giggles, lingering touches and fond grins here and there. They hadn't even noticed Rose and Greg’s arrival. The couple turned to look at each other with knowing gazes and chuckled a bit to themselves. Perhaps this was how Pearl felt all that time being around the two of them.

Rose cleared her throat.

The three turned their heads at once, seemingly unaware that they had company. Garnet’s long body fit easily across the three person couch, and Pearl sat between the back of the couch and Garnet’s side, her legs dangling over her girlfriend and off of the couch easily. Amethyst was laid across Pearl’s lap, her head on the lighter skinned woman’s thighs and the rest of her body lying atop Garnet’s legs.

“Sorry to interrupt…” Rose began with a knowing and fond smile gently curling the corners of her pink lips.

Pearl blushed.

“But the cookies are ready, and I’m assuming everyone would like to get to the presents?” Rose’s sentence trailed off into a question and watched in quiet amusement as Amethyst stared down the plate of cookies as if waiting for the green light to shove them in her mouth.

“You've assumed right.” Garnet smiled a bit, the arm smushed between Pearl’s back and the cushion of the couch absently pulling the blonde closer. Rose laughed that tinkling laugh of hers, though still held her gaze on Amethyst’s waiting body.

“Please, help yourself.” She prompted, and before she could say anything else Amethyst’s hand shot out and easily scooped two chocolate chip cookies up into her palm before taking an alarmingly large bite out of one. The four watching her could only grin and chuckle a bit to themselves at her haste. Pearl leaned forward as far as she could toward one of the mugs of hot chocolate, though after realizing that she couldn't reach it, Garnet stretched her long arm out and gingerly grabbed the cup herself to hand to Pearl without it spilling over the rim.

Pearl murmured a quiet “Thanks” while Rose got to her feet and began to carry the presents from beneath the fantastically large tree to the space they all occupied. Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl had brought their own presents for each other along to give to each other when it was time, and the anticipation of seeing what they got left each woman with a jittery feeling in her gut.

“Who wants to go first?” Rose asked over the low hum of the Christmas movie playing behind her. Greg watched her every seemingly insubstantial movement with starry eyes that Garnet could absolutely understand in a way she never dreamed she would be able to before she fell in love with Amethyst and Pearl.

“I do!” Greg exclaimed like a happy child, and for once the sight of him fawning over Rose did not cause a rumbling anger in the pit of Pearl’s stomach.

She truly was happy for them, just as they were happy for her.

“Alright, this one is from– Pearl?” Rose’s sentence turned into a question of disbelief. Greg’s wide eyes and slack jaw echoed that feeling.

“...What is it?” He asked warily, cutting his dark eyes over to the lanky woman sheepishly sitting on the couch.

“Open it and find out.” She prompted with a hesitant smile playing on her lips. Greg slowly began tearing into the medium sized box, eventually picking up his pace as he recognized the store the gift was from. With a good-natured little laugh, he threw the box top over his left shoulder and grinned that boyish grin of his across the coffee table and at Pearl. His large hands gripped the several pairs of jeans and held them up for the rest of the room to see.

“Alright, alright.” He chuckled as the rest of them giggled in response.

“Greg, you needed new pants.” Pearl stated bluntly, referencing the few pairs of pants he owned and the horrid conditions they were in. Garnet hid her chuckle behind her long fingers while Amethyst outright cackled. Greg merely nodded, his full head of hair flopping messily over his right eye before he flipped it out of his face.

“I feel that. Thanks, Pearl.” He beamed, and Pearl was hesitant to admit it, but the fondness she felt for him in that moment was not even slightly forced.

“Next gifts are from me!” Rose squealed excitedly as she pushed three different sized, expertly wrapped baby pink gift boxes across the table toward her boyfriend, each decorated with a pristinely tied, dark pink bow. Greg reached for the largest one first and used his thumb nail to tear the paper beneath the lip of the box top, finally popping it off and allowing it to land on the floor. He gasped excitedly as he pulled out a folded leather motorcycle jacket with a massive grin turning his round cheeks rosy.

“ _Rose!_ ” He exclaimed lovingly, and she could only smile and encourage him to open the next two. This procession of gifts continued for all of them until they were down to two identically small gifts hidden behind simple wrapping.

One for Amethyst.

One for Pearl.

Garnet held one in each hand as her girlfriends sat perched on the opposite end of the couch surrounded by the abundance of gift wrapping paper that had accumulated throughout the past hour. Garnet’s elegant neck bobbed with a nervous swallow, her full bottom lip worried between two rows of white teeth. The room was silent aside from the playlist of Christmas music Rose had turned on halfway through their gift opening. ‘Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire’ drifted softly throughout the room, floating invisibly through their ears as the suspense rose.

Pearl’s wide blue eyes searched Garnet’s dual colored ones with anticipation building in her gut. Amethyst could hardly sit still. With a shaky sigh, Garnet extended her hands out to her girlfriends, the boxes in them exposed fully now that her palms were open. They were wrapped identically in none too fancy paper– the comics section of their weekly newspaper– and only differentiated by the names scrawled across the top in Garnet’s boxy handwriting. In a rush of juvenile excitement, both of her girlfriends grabbed the proffered gifts and tore into them with comical speed.

Their gasps intermingled in the otherwise wordless room, bringing a proud smile to Garnet’s lips. Amethyst and Pearl had opened the black velvet ring boxes at the same time, both pairs of brown and blue eyes widening unbelievably at the sight of rings so stunning, but also at the implications behind them. Rose’s eyes were starry as she watched from several feet away, her hands clasped at her breast and plump lips in the shape of a perfect “O.”

“Garnet…” Pearl breathed, glancing between the ivory pearl embedded within the band and Garnet’s bright eyes across from her. Amethyst’s hand was firmly clasped over her mouth in shock as she solely eyed the deep purple amethyst embedded within her own.

“Are you–” Pearl began with a sharp gasp.

“No! No, this is… a promise.” Amethyst and Pearl both leveled their gazes only on her then.

“I promise to love you both for as long as you’ll have me, and I promise to always do right by you as long as you do the same by me.” Garnet declared, the emotion deep in her chest making her accented voice come out rougher than usual. Pearl was tearing up while Amethyst looked at her like she put the sun in the sky and the trees in the earth. Both, slipping their respective rings onto their fingers, turned to look at each other with an altered outlook on their relationship. With watery smiles, they both turned back to look at Garnet, and though their timing was disjointed, they both declared, “We promise.” with an overwhelming joy that seemed to permeate the room.

A beautiful Christmas, indeed.

* * *

“Is that the last box?” Amethyst yelled from the upstairs window, her short body practically dangling over the ledge. Pearl whipped around at the sudden noise and released a startled cry at the sight of Amethyst so carelessly leaning through the window frame.

 _“Amethyst!_ ”

Her girlfriend cackled loudly and disappeared back inside of the house, appearing shortly after when she bounded through the front door and rushed Pearl into a suffocating bear hug. Her strong arms easily lifted Pearl precariously into the air and drove a loving giggle from between her pink lips. Garnet sauntered out of the front door next, absently wiping her hands on those sinfully tight jeans wrapped around her thighs.

“Alright you two, quit messing around and lock up the truck. We’ve got to return it later tonight.” She explained while passing by them to pick up the final box of Pearl’s toaster from the sidewalk. Amethyst gently set Pearl back on the ground and shot her hand up with a mock salute toward Garnet.

“Sir, yes sir!” She beamed, enticing Pearl into leaning down and placing a sound kiss on Amethyst’s round cheek.

The move into their new house had been scary and exciting and something out of a beautiful dream for each of them. Pearl had finally found an affordable house up to her standards. Since her refusal to rejoin her family last winter during the holidays, she had been made to get a job due to being cut off from her parents’ funding. The news was not nearly as disheartening as she anticipated it to be.

She felt free no longer being under their thumbs.

While she and her eldest sister Eve still had their qualms, her further budding relationship with her baby sister Bellamy seemed to be the only stable connection Pearl had with her blood family that she even desired. Quickly picking up a job in sales management, she had eventually come to the conclusion that in a triple income household the three of them could afford the house she desired together. When proposed with the idea of moving in together, their responses of:

“Dude, I thought you lived here _now_ ,” and “You spend all your time here anyway. I was wondering when you'd finally ask,” were unbelievably reassuring. Garnet and Amethyst held no qualms about moving to the north side of Chicago and ditching their ratty apartment. They could save money on gas as well because most things around their new neighborhood were either in walking distance or a short train ride away.

And so there they were, finally finishing up moving all of their combined boxes into their new house– the neighbors having already mistaken them as being merely three very close friends.

The trio found it too hilarious to bring themselves to correct them.

Pearl and Amethyst followed Garnet past the abundance of pristinely trimmed bushes enclosing their front yard after completing the task of locking the moving truck up. The three stood inside, the front door closed and locked behind them and looked at each other for a long moment– a feeling of finality and _rightness_ bounding about the room.

“So, we’re really doing this, huh?” Amethyst asked finally, a nervous smile pulling up one corner of her lips. Pearl laughed a bit and looked down at her shoes while her cheeks warmed.

“Yeah. I suppose so.”

Garnet took a step forward and wrapped an arm around them both to pull them in for a wonderfully smushed hug.

“I love you two.”

They had been hearing Garnet express that feeling much more often than they had previously been used to, and the fact that she could now say it offhandedly and fully mean those words–

Well, it was enough to make Pearl a little emotional.

“I love you, too.” They both responded genuinely and turned a bit in Garnet’s arms to wrap their arms around her midsection.

They couldn't imagine themselves being happy any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These past three weeks got extremely busy, so apologies for the wait on this final chapter. I can't thank you all enough for supporting this fic as much as you have. Your words have truly kept me smiling for as long as I've been cultivating this universe and these characters. For those who are not ready for it to end: it isn't over!
> 
> I have a beginning list of possible one shots in this universe including where our favorite polygems trio end up in the future as well as a sprinkling of fluffy little stories to continue throughout their every day lives. That being said, PLEASE send your own suggestions of situations you would like to see them in and I can try to work them into this universe. I'm open to AU versions of this fic as well, so go all out :)
> 
> Much love to all of you.
> 
> For updates and more, you know where to find me: bakedgarnet.tumblr.com!


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